


Beyond the Forest

by Macx



Series: The Maelstrom Crossovers [3]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Crossover, Hurt/Comfort, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-05
Updated: 2011-06-05
Packaged: 2017-10-20 03:58:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/208502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macx/pseuds/Macx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He screamed, falling to his knees, everything collapsing on him like an old building. He was overwhelmed by the force of the sensations he felt, completely helpless in trying to ward them off.<br/>Megatron gave a groan and curled into a tight ball, his skin scraping against the hard ground, evoking more sensations, more pain and unpleasantness. But suddenly it was gone. As if his body had found a switch to turn down the force of the sensations he became gradually aware of his surroundings, not only what they evoked in him. The Decepticon tried to get to his feet and stopped in mid-movement. His hands..... his legs... he looked at his body, carefully touching his mid-rift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> a Maelstrom crossover (with a bit of Matrix Masters and Beast Wars)

"Choose."   
There was a strange noise, as if cards were shuffled, then another voice said. "I have chosen."   
Two small pawns popped up on a large, roughly oval table in the middle of the room. The one who had spoken was nothing but a shadowy figure standing a the edge of the table.   
"Choose," the first voice said again, and again there was a sound, this time of thin paper getting turned.   
"I have chosen," a third voice answered and stepped toward the table but equally keeping in the shadows. Two more pawns appeared.   
The first one nodded and joined his two companions at the table as the last set of pawns came out of nowhere, neatly placed far away from the other two sets.   
The table gave a vague impression of a landscape, complete with a shoreline, mountains and something looking like an ancient city.   
"And now it begins," the first shadow  said and a pair of dice rolled over the table.

* * *

Light.   
Sound.   
Sensations overloading his receptors.   
He screamed, falling to his knees, everything collapsing on him like an old building. He was overwhelmed by the force of the sensations he felt, completely helpless in trying to ward them off.   
Megatron gave a groan and curled into a tight ball, his skin scraping against the hard ground, evoking more sensations, more pain and unpleasantness. But suddenly it was gone. As if his body had found a switch to turn down the force of the sensations he became gradually aware of his surroundings, not only what they evoked in him. The Decepticon tried to get to his feet and stopped in mid-movement. His hands..... his legs... he looked at his body, carefully touching his mid-rift.   
Human.   
He was ... human.   
Wind brushed past him, ruffling his hair, bringing the smell of rain. And then the first raindrops fell in quick succession. Seconds later he was standing in a literal downpour. His clothes -- wherever had he got clothes from? -- turned soaking wet and clung to his skin. Megatron cursed and ran for one of the strange trees, seeking shelter. The leaves of the tree proved to be a waterproof canopy, though he couldn't get any more wet than he already was.   
What happened? he asked himself. This can't be! It's a nightmare!   
All around him was nothing but landscape. A wild, beautiful landscape, with tall grass, far away mountains and the occasional boulder. Behind him stretched a whole forest of strange trees, all of them looking like no tree he had ever seen before. They were tall with a dark, nearly black bark. The leaves had a bluish tinge and were shaped like triangles.   
"What the heck ...?" he muttered.   
He couldn't remember how he had arrived here. One moment he had been standing in his quarters, then.... he was here.   
As he looked out on the plains he noticed a movement. It was like a shadow, whisking through the grass. Megatron tensed and moved further back against the forest. As he scanned the tall grass he saw nothing. Maybe he had only seen a ghost.   
Suddenly something leaped out into the open and snarled at him. His mouth dropped open. He was facing a black and white, furry, four-legged creature ..... a cat. And it reminded him a lot of.....   
"Sparks?"   
The cat tilted its head and growled. "Who are you?" it finally asked and it had Sparks' voice.   
Megatron gave a sarcastic smile. "Who do you think I am, furball?"   
Now it was Sparks' turn to stare. Finally she shook her head. "What the heck has happened?"

* * *

Rodimus Prime stood on a lonely beach which seemed to stretch to infinity in both directions. He was human. It was no real shock to him because he was used to this human body, but it still disturbed him a bit. He hadn't initiated the complicated shape-shifting to an organic body. What disturbed him even more was the fact that he was dressed. He wore an overall and boots, and his long, red hair was bound into a pony tail. He touched the fabric of the clothes. It felt real enough. He frowned and tried to recall the last thing he could remember before appearing here.   
He had been on his way to see Optimus about some problem or other. Then there had been the strange tickling feeling, a loud 'whoosh' and the feeling of a small storm racing through the corridor. Next thing he was here -- wherever 'here' was. He looked around.   
The beach with the white sand was undisturbed by the presence of human beings and stretching for miles and miles. The beach sloped slightly upwards toward a jungle-like forest, which was a stark contrast to the white beach and the dark blue waters. Not far away from him he could make out a dark spot on the otherwise perfect white of the sand. He walked toward the spot and bent down, scooping up a handful of the sand. Blood, he noticed with fascination and wariness. He rubbed the sand between the tips of his fingers and it fell soundlessly back to the ground. A couple of grains stuck to his hand and he had to shake them off.   
Rodimus scanned the surrounding beach for a sign of the one who had been wounded, but he found nothing. Wind brushed over the beach and disturbed the ground, smoothing the indention Rodimus' feet had left and erasing every trace of his presence so far.   
Great, he thought. Someone was here, but all traces are erased by the wind almost immediately.   
He let his instincts surface and once more scanned the beach. If he had been wounded, losing blood, where would he go? Somewhere safe. Out of the open. His eyes fixed on the jungle forest. Yes.   
Rodimus started to climb the beach up to the border of the forest and, almost as if he had suspected it, he found traces of another living being not far from him. There were footsteps of a bipedal being, but not human; there were marks of talons in the sand. Whoever it was, Rodimus judged from the trail, he wasn't limping and he wasn't stumbling, so the wound wasn't on the legs and it couldn't be too severe; otherwise the steps wouldn't be so smooth.   
He followed the trail, senses alert. If he found the owner of the blood and the footsteps, maybe he also found an answer as to where he was and how he had gotten here.

* * *

Lancer watched at the tall, athletic looking man with a mixture of wary distrust and surprise. He hadn't discovered her yet, mainly because he was arguing with a .....cat. The man had to be human, though his hair color was a bit wrong for his apparent young age. She guessed he was in his mid-thirties, not older, and his hair was a silverish white with only a random gray wisp. The eyes were a soft brown, but the expression in them was cold and hard. He was skin tanned and a faint white scar ran over his left eyebrow, which was dark colored, not white of age. He was dressed in a kind of overall without any insignia.   
The cat was another matter. It was the normal size of a cat, mostly black with white paws and a white triangle on the chest, and emerald eyes. The white-tipped tail moved lazily as it faced the rather irate human.   
"I don't care about any animal trails" the human now growled. "All I care about are traces of a way out of here!"   
The cat snorted.   
"And why aren't you human?" he added in a snarl.   
"Because I'm a cat," the cat answered smugly, its voice female.   
The human bent down a bit. "You aren't."   
The cat swiped playfully at him, keeping its claws sheathed, and he pulled back. Lancer saw a flash of red in the hazel eyes, which was slowly starting to turn into a steady glow.   
"Either you trust me and my instincts, or you go off on your own," the cat said haughtily.   
The human growled something and Lancer puzzled about who those two were and how they had come here. She moved carefully forward, intent to get more information when the cat suddenly tensed and her fur rose. She hissed slightly, looking into Lancer's direction. Lancer stopped. Had the animal heard her? And if yes, how? Lancer prided herself with the fact that she could approach a mouse without the mouse ever becoming aware of her.   
The human tensed as well, turning to look what the cat was seeing. Lancer made a quick decision, then rose out of her hiding place and walked slowly out into the open. She had no doubt about the fact that the man was unarmed and that he would be no match against her assassin skills. He didn't really strike her as an assassin.   
"Who are you?" the human asked and she recognized his stance as one of readiness.   
"My name is Lancer. And who are you two?"   
The human exchanged a look with the cat, who seemed to be ready to claw at Lancer even if it had no effect at all. Intriguing, she thought.   
"My name is Megatron," the human now answered. "And this nuisance is Sparks."   
"Oh, thank you very much," the cat muttered.   
"I should have shot you the first time I saw you!" Megatron hissed.   
The cat grinned. "Too bad you aren't a gun anymore....."   
"Your luck!" was the sharp reply.   
"Gun?" Lancer replied, her mind furiously working on the paradox of this conversation.   
"In his previous life he was a roughly thirty foot tall, cranky robot. Now he's a six foot tall, cranky human," Sparks replied with a snicker.   
Megatron shot her a nasty, acid glare. "How come you are still the same, insufferable furball?"   
"Because I'm a cat at heart?"   
"I'm not human in any definition!" Megatron shot back.   
"Never would think of saying so," Sparks replied. "You are as robotic as they come."   
Lancer still didn't get it. Her memories gave her a quick run on the history of the Autobots concerning Megatron and though there were various tales about him they all came down to one point: he was dead. Galvatron the new Decepticon leader. And Galvatron had been borne out of the dying Megatron's body and mind, turning insane after Unicron's death. Now this guy said he was Megatron, he thought he was a robot who could turn into a gun, and so did the cat -- Sparks. Lancer frowned slightly. Something was wrong here. There were more things that didn't fit. She had seen how robots turned into humans reacted, how they moved, how they walked. Megatron didn't fit the usual picture. He moved too fluid, too graceful -- unlike Rodi when she had first met him. Rodi had moved like a robot: loud and slightly stiff, unaware of the rather flexible body of the human he was.   
"How did you get here?" she asked.   
The two unlikely beings stopped their bickering and Megatron frowned.   
"No idea," Sparks answered before he could. "One second we were in Megs' office, then I found myself in the middle of too tall grass blades. And somewhat fleshy."   
Megatron nodded, looking thoughtful. "I don't remember what happened. There was nothing, then there was pain. Sound. Light. Too many sensations." His voice had a distant sound, as if he was trying to recall something that kept evading him.   
It sounded familiar to Lancer. Rodi had once told her that being turned into a human was like an assault by the armies of sound, light and sensations. It overwhelmed the robot and he needed some adjusting to it. She wondered how long Megatron had had to adjust.   
"How did you get here?" Sparks now asked curiously. "Or are you native to this planet?"   
Lancer shook her head. "No ....I... was just here."   
Sparks grinned her cat grin. "Now what?"   
The situation was much like her first meeting with Rodimus, only that at the time he had been a badly injured human and the landscape had been a desert with no life at all anywhere. Now that she thought about it.... Lancer scanned the forest around her for life force and found only a few minor ones: rabbits, mice, birds.... no predators larger than Sparks. Very strange, but she didn't remark on it just now.   
"We have to find a way out of here."   
Megatron smiled sarcastically at her. "Of course."   
Lancer turned and started to walk into the forest. She had no idea where to go, but anywhere was better than standing around like this. As she walked she heard Sparks hiss an angry, "Get your manners straightened out" and had to smile a bit.

* * *

Rodimus had followed the footsteps along the border of the forest for some time, then the trails turned sharply toward the jungle. And he followed further.   
Finally he came upon what could be the owner of the footsteps, though he had somehow expected something different .... but what he couldn't really say. This creature was an animal, bipedal, predatory in nature, he guessed from the claws and talon, and colored in dark gray with blue stripes. A deep wound was on its left shoulder. As Rodimus stepped carefully closer, the eyes opened, revealing a slitted, reptilian pupil, which grew wide as the creature took in the human.   
"Rodimus?"   
Rodimus stopped and stared at the creature in open-mouthed surprise. "You ... you know me?" he stuttered, caught too much off balance to regain it immediately.   
A smile twisted the pain-etched features of the predator. "I think so, yes, though I only saw you in your human form once. And you met me only in my robotic body. How are Lancer and the kids?"   
Rodimus still stared at the reptile as parts of the puzzle crashed down with sickening clarity. "Silhouette!" he breathed.   
Sil gave a tired smile. "Bingo," she whispered.   
"What happened?" he asked and approached now, checking the deep wound, which bled rather sluggishly, but was still deep enough to be really painful.   
"I wish I knew. I was due for some repairs and suddenly I was here -- with my wounds turning into this mess." She closed her eyes briefly and a low rumble of pain crossed her lips as Rodimus inspected the cut.   
"Sorry," he muttered. "I've to clean this. It could get infected."   
Silhouette sighed slightly. "Are there others here beside you? And how did you get here?" she asked. "I, for my part, have no idea how I got here and why I'm in a flesh body.... and as a dinosaur."   
Rodimus smiled slightly as he cleaned the cut with what he had while Sil tried not to wince away from the touch. "Same here. Suddenly I was wherever this is and in a human body. I arrived on a beach and found blood there."   
"Mine," Sil muttered, watching him work out of the corner of her eye.   
Finally Rodimus straightened and surveyed his handiwork. It was crude, but it would hold. "Can you get up?" he asked.   
Silhouette gave it an effort and it worked. She stood a bit unsteady on her hind legs, but at least she stood. Sil flexed her shoulder and winced.   
"Ouch," she muttered.   
Rodimus was surprised by her looks. She was still much of what she had been as a Dinobot, but now the steel skin couldn't hide the raw power of those muscles. Her skin wasn't very scaly, but it looked tough and the stripes somehow let her blur a bit. She was taller than a human, her shoulder height about at Rodimus' eye-level, her long neck and head above him. The talons looked sharp and he didn't want to get in their way.   
"Take it easy," he advised, looking back through the trees toward the beach, wondering if they should go back there or search for help in the depths of the jungle.   
Nothing was very promising.   
Sil followed his gaze and her nostrils flared. "Any idea?" she asked softly.   
Rodimus shook his head, his mind trying to find a way, a good way. Suddenly there was something like a small spark, fainting quickly again, but he recognized it.   
"Lancer!" he whispered.   
Sil frowned down at him. "She's here?"   
He nodded. "But I can't really feel her....." Rodimus sounded worried. "That's not normal. I didn't feel it at first because I was so caught up in being confused about all of this and finding whoever had bled on the beach.... but now..... She's here."   
"Where?"   
The red-headed human looked into the dark forest. "Somewhere there...."   
Silhouette regarded the green darkness with worried eyes, then nodded. "Then we'll find her. Can you use this ability like a radar?"   
Rodimus shrugged. "I never tried. We are linked by the mind and we feel each other, but I never tried to find her with it."   
The raptor smiled a bit. "Then it's time to try and find out."   
Rodimus chuckled a bit and then walked off into the depths of the forest, closely followed by Sil. With faint curiosity he noticed that neither of them made many sounds; he had been trained by Lancer to move noiselessly; Sil was apparently using her predatory side without a problem.

* * *

Ralyk had been aware of the short build-up of energies, then the sudden disappearance of those connected to it. The echoes of the abduction still rang through its being and it reeled with what had happened. The entity stretched out probing tentacles toward those linked to it and encountered only shields; artificial shields. And as it felt along the edges of the shields, it recognized the energy pattern.   
Anger rose inside Ralyk, quickly transforming into fury.   
\-- Gamblers! -- it roared.   
Ralyk stretched further, its very self moving along the energy trail the abduction had left. There were few things that could evoke such furious anger in the ancient entity. This was one of them.

*

Sphere, who was in the upper levels of South Port, flinched ever so slightly as the host space inside of her echoed with Ralyk's anger. She had no idea what had happened, but she knew whatever it had been, it wasn't pleasant.

* * *

Lancer played with a stick, her senses alert and scanning for an enemy -- any enemy. But there was none. No predators dangerous enough to threaten them. She frowned deeply as she regarded the remains of their dinner. Megatron had first stared at the food with disgust, then eaten it, not a complaint coming out of him. This was so much different from Rodimus that it somehow scared her a bit. Sparks had eaten as well, but with her it was different, Lancer tried to reason. She was a cat.   
After some time of scans without any results she decided to lay down and sleep. Megatron had already settled down, though his strange hazel eyes regarded her and the landscape around him with wary curiosity. As she wrapped her arms around her he gave her one last look, then closed his eyes. Sparks appeared near the fire and grinned at her.   
"Don't mind him," the cat said softly. "He has his good days. At least they say he does. Haven't experienced one myself."   
Lancer smiled faintly. "How come you are sticking with him?" she asked.   
Sparks sighed. "Oh, that's a long story. You see, this body, my robot body, was that of a pet. Ralyk -- you know Ralyk?" Lancer nodded. "Well, Ralyk gave me my personality, but the machine who reactivated my body gave me the pet side: it fixed me on a person."   
Lancer frowned. "Megatron? Why him?"   
The cat sighed again. "Because he walked right into the scanner beam of the machine. Wish he hadn't."   
Lancer gave her a critical look. She had seen how Sparks reacted to Megatron and how he reacted as well. They snapped a lot at each other and Megatron was constantly glowering at her, but there was fondness there, protection. Neither of the two would let the other get hurt. Sparks wrinkled her brow as she saw Lancer's look. Lancer smiled a bit and watched how Sparks walked lightly over to Megatron and curled up beside him, then went to sleep as well.

* * *

"What do you mean they are gone?" Optimus demanded.   
Jazz flinched a bit, trying not to look as helpless as he felt. "We have no idea," he finally confessed. "They are just ...gone...."   
Optimus' blue optics flared in anger. "No one simply disappears!"   
Jazz knew that he wasn't really the target of Optimus' anger. It was just that after Firefall, Megatron, Rodimus, Silhouette and also Sparks had disappeared, he was more than helpless here on Cybertron. No one knew what had happened and no one knew what to do.   
"Ralyk has disappeared as well," a soft voice suddenly said.   
Optimus whirled around. "What?!" he demanded.   
Sphere returned his angry stare with calm eyes. "Something has happened and I have no idea what it is. I never felt Ralyk so angry, so furious. Whatever happened, it's out there, trying to help."   
"Where are Rodimus and the others?!"   
"Like I said: I have no idea," Sphere answered.   
"Then ask, damnit!" Optimus hissed.   
"I tried. It won't answer."   
The Autobot leader slammed a fist against the wall, making Jazz jump. "How do we know the Tji didn't get them?" he demanded.   
"Because they can't get through the protective fields," Sphere reminded him, nodding at Jazz that it would be okay to leave her alone with Optimus and that it would be better now anyway. Jazz moved quickly out of the office.   
Optimus stared angrily at her. "And how do we know that? How do we know anything except when Ralyk thinks it's time to tell us something we should have known before the catastrophe happened?!"   
Anger and fury, borne out of worry and fear, searched for a vent and found one. Sphere stoically let the older robot shower her with this anger and fury. She understood him.   
"This time I can assure you that Ralyk had nothing to do with it."   
For a second Sphere feared Optimus would snap completely. He calmed down with an effort. She really did understand him. The prospect of Rodimus, Megatron and Firefall, all members of the Council, either kidnapped or killed was unbearable. But she knew that they weren't dead. Ralyk wasn't an entity out for revenge. If they had died, Ralyk would have mourned them; but it had left in a furious streak and this more than anything convinced her that they were all right.   
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Optimus said softly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.   
"Nothing to be sorry about," Sphere assured him, smiling. "I understand you. But you have to believe me that they aren't dead. They live, all of them."   
He nodded slowly and Sphere walked out of the room. When she was outside she reached inside herself to find a trace of Ralyk, but all she encountered was emptiness; an emptiness created by the entity's partial absence. A lot of Ralyk was still here, but another part was somewhere out there, doing whatever needed to be done.

* * *

Something was wrong. Sparks' ears perked up and the hair on her neck rose. Something was here.... close.... dangerous .... She buried her claws in the fabric beneath her, lightly touching the skin, but not breaking it. Megatron's eyes flew open, for a brief second showing the natural hazel color, then a red fire appeared in them.

Megatron first thought about throwing the cat off his chest, then he saw Sparks' emerald glowing eyes. Something was wrong. And as if on that thought he felt it as well. His skin prickled with the feeling of imminent danger and his instincts, honed through millions of years of fighting usurpers to the position of Decepticon leader, flared brightly. Sparks gave a barely audibly hiss and seemed to practically flow off his chest.   
Megatron rose carefully from his position and crouched down. He saw Lancer move as well, her whole body radiating tension. Was it his imagination or were her eyes glowing and her fingers taloned all of a sudden?   
Those thoughts were radically shoved from his mind as something seemed to jump out of the shadows. Megatron gave a startled gasp as something else slammed into him the very same second. A violent pain tore through his body and the very same survival instinct from before kicked in. He exploded into motion.

Lancer felt the explosion of life force on a very subtle level and it woke her immediately. Her eyes snapped open and she was battle-ready within seconds. She crouched down, feeling her demon side rise with the danger level around her. The life force was strong, predatory, deadly.... here......   
And then a second life force popped up, but it was too late for her to focus on both. The first one moved out of the shadows of the forest and attacked. It was large, the female mutant saw in the split second she had to take in the enemy, reptilian and more claws and teeth than anything else. Lancer fanged and attacked as well.

Sparks watched the battle from he position on the ground, her eyes drawn to the woman who had been minutes before only that: a woman. Now she was a horned, fanged fury on two legs, attacking something that was about twice her size and showed more raw power than she had ever seen in a predatory animal. But Lancer seemed to be quite capable of handling her enemy.   
Not so Megatron. He was quick, he had the battle skills and he could move with this body as if it had always belonged to him, but he had no weapons except for his hands and speed. The predator matched his speed and it had weapons. One of the claws had already opened a deep wound in his side and as Megatron stumbled away from the attacker, the reptilian creature slammed its strong tail into him. Megatron was thrown against a tree with a sickening crunch and slumped to the ground. As the attacker went in for the kill, Sparks acted. She was small, but she had claws as well. And the predator felt them seconds later.

Lancer's last attack left the predator bleeding badly and staggering. Still he attacked once more, only to be greeted by her energy lance slamming into the open wound, burning into the flesh, through the bone and into the center of its life force. The reptile gave a high squeal and collapsed. Lancer breathed raggedly, but not from exertion, more from her fight for control over her demonic side.   
A high scream tore her around and she flashed her talons up, ready for a new attack. But she wasn't the target. The scream had originated from the second predator who had just acquired a plague of Sparks. The small cat sat on the long snout, her claws buried deep in the scaly hide, one inside the left eye. The reptile shook its head, trying to dislodge the bundle of claws, but Sparks held on for dear life. All four feet were fully clawed and she was trying to reach the right eye.   
Megatron lay on the ground, bleeding all over the place and moving faintly.   
Sparks gave a high-pitched meow and was suddenly flung off the predator's snout. The reptile pounced after its opponent, but it encounter a new plague -- of Lancer. The mutant made short work of the one-eyed reptile and seconds later it lay on the ground, quite dead.   
Sparks, who had landed on her feet, like all cats somehow always did, walked over to Lancer, giving her an appreciative look. "Hey, you're good."   
Lancer was surprised by the cat's reaction and the surprise let her morph back into her human form -- mostly at least. Her eyes still glowed slightly and her talons were showing a bit, though her tail and horns were gone and the feet normal again. Sparks showed no fear or revulsion at her fanged state. She simply regarded her with those always mildly mocking or curious cat eyes.   
A groan from Megatron got their attention to the humanized Decepticon leader. Lancer knelt down beside him and checked the wound, drawing up in surprise as she saw that though there was a lot of blood, the wound looked like it was .... healing.   
Sparks sniffed, then shrugged. "I always knew that this accident of a rebirth did something to his molecular structure. And this morphogenic field can't be too bad either."   
Megatron blinked and his eyes still glowed slightly red as they opened. He sat up and leaned against the tree behind him, catching his breath as he felt a sting of pain.   
"You are a mutant," Lancer said tonelessly.   
Rodimus healed fast as well when he was in his human form, at least much faster than the average human, but not that fast!   
"No, he isn't," Sparks contradicted. "He just got a screwed-up structure."   
"Shut up, fuzzy face," Megatron hissed and shot her an acid look.   
"You do heal fast," Lancer said carefully. "It's not normal for a human."   
"I am not human!" he snarled.   
"Messed up structure, as I said," Sparks said with a grin. "Must be the synthoid stuff still fused into you, Megs."   
Megatron's eyes took on a deep red, angry glow. "If you don't keep your tongue in check you'll find your hide nailed to the next tree," he hissed.   
"Aw, I'm scared," Sparks chuckled and then walked over to the two dead bodies.   
"Fused-in synthoid material?" Lancer asked calmly.   
"Nothing of your concern," he snapped back and tried to get up, which proved to be rather difficult.   
Lancer decided against giving him a helping had and joined Sparks. The two predators looked like ancient dinosaurs from Earth. They were all claws and teeth and thick hide, and they were about twice he size. She wondered how they could have come so close so fast. Their life force had simply exploded into existence!   
Sparks gave her a strange look. "You felt it as well, right?" the cat asked.   
Lancer regarded the cat silently, then nodded.   
"They weren't there before," Sparks went on and looked thoughtfully at the dead bodies. "And they didn't walk here. They ... popped up."   
"But where from?" Lancer found herself asking.   
Sparks shrugged.   
The mutant looked questioningly at her as she began to check the bodies. "What was that about the fused structure and the morphogenic field?"   
Sparks gave her an exasperated look that could only come from a cat. Lancer found herself grinning ever so slightly.   
"You have no idea, right?" Sparks shook her head. "Okay, morphogenic fields are auras you and everyone else have all around you, but can't use them. Nobody really can because you have no idea of it and how to access it."   
"But you do?" Lancer asked.   
"No. If I were a cat, yes, I could. But I ain't. I'm a cat and a person. Morphogenic fields enable the change from one life form into another, like a robot into a human," the cat went on. "Something triggered this transformation when we came here, for whatever reason, but I have no idea what it could be."   
"How come you know that much about morphogenic fields?"   
Sparks grinned. "Cat secret."   
Lancer gave her a stare, which Sparks returned with the same intensity. Finally Lancer lifted one corner of her mouth. "I see why he has trouble dealing with you," she told the small feline.   
"He's an old wossname. A stubborn pain in the neck," Sparks muttered, but Lancer heard fondness in it. Beside the constant bickering, there was a mutual friendship between them.   
"Putting these morphogenic fields aside, what is wrong with his structure?" Lancer wanted to know, completing her checks, which had rather interesting results. She always kept an eye on Megatron, who was still sitting with his back against the tree, watching them with angry eyes. If possible there would have been a dark cloud hovering over his head.   
Sparks gave her a brief version of what had happened to Megatron and how someone had tried to kill Galvatron, turning him accidentally back into Megatron, though he now was fused together with synthoid material on a molecular level. There had never been any ill effects from this transformation so far. Lancer was most interested in it all, part of her mind working on the strange predators.   
"This MacKenzie woman really was a problem," she remarked.   
Sparks shrugged. "Never met her. Megs blew her up when she tried to get away from Earth. I thought he'd be kinda grateful for getting turned back into his old body and having his mind straightened out; well, as straightened out as he can get, which isn't much."   
Lancer grinned again. Sparks was an impossible person to be around.   
"But you are right. From what I heard it's good she isn't around any longer. Shanygn said Rodimus was ready to kill her with his own two hands."   
Lancer nodded thoughtfully. As much as the two Rodimus Primes were different, they were still dimensional twins and very much alike in many ways.   
"What are those?" a rough voice demanded.   
Lancer looked up and right into the still slightly red eyes of Megatron. He was holding his side and appeared a bit pale, but at least he was standing on his own two feet without any supports.   
"I'm not sure. But I don't think they are native to this planet, whatever they are. They are not equipped for this forest," Lancer said thoughtfully. "They are fighting machines, not predators. They don't fit here." She gestured at their smooth hide. "No wounds, no scars, not even a dent or other mark from previous fights or wounds received as youngsters. That's not normal, even if the animal in question is such a strong creature."   
Megatron regarded first the dead bodies, then the mutant. "Then where did they come from?"   
"I have no idea about that either. They appeared without a warning. They weren't here before."   
Sparks nodded. "Like out of nowhere."   
Megatron frowned. He apparently didn't like the sound of it either. Lancer straightened.   
"We should leave," she said. "Can you walk?"   
"I still have two legs," Megatron snarled and glowered at her, daring her to answer.   
"Charming as ever," Sparks sighed and shook her head.   
Lancer shrugged and looked at the slightly gray coloring of the sky. It was dawning already. She led the way away from the camp, followed by her two companions.

* * *

"First level," the shadowy player said and smiled triumphantly.   
"No losses," another one answered, nodding. "You played well."   
"Yet," the third one added, nodding as well.   
"my turn," the second one announced.   
The dice were cast anew.

* * *

Ralyk shuddered as it felt the pain radiate from one of those linked to it. The anger fueled the fury and it redoubled its efforts to break though the various barriers put between it and the origin of the energy burst which had abducted the children. The barriers broke like old wood under its onslaught.

* * *

Rodimus had plowed through the forest for hours and he was tired, hungry and his body didn't seem to stop sweating. This was disgusting, though he was getting used to it. Getting turned human twice in intervals gave you a bit of an advantage, though he could have missed those two occasions. It wasn't fun. He leaned against a tree, cursing the human body and its weakness concerning endurance, at least compared to a robot body. He had been walking through this hell hole for hours after hours and there was no end in sight. Trees, bushes, more trees, thorny stuff.... he hated it. His eyes wandered over the forest, watching the shadows between the trees. He had no idea how he had come here. One second he had been on his way back from a meeting with Optimus, the next he was in the middle of this jungle, transformed into a human and also dressed, which was the weirdest of the three changes.   
Rodimus sighed and wondered if the fruit he could see hanging on a bush were edible or not. He had no equipment at all and it wouldn't do to get himself killed by eating something poisonous.   
Suddenly one of the many shadows came to live and moved toward him quite openly. Rodimus gaped at the approaching figure. It was clearly female, but not human. A dense, black fur covered the bipedal body. She had two arms, each one ending in taloned hands with four fingers. A long tail swished behind her and the black hair was a long mane falling down her back. The woman was dressed in a loincloth and some small excuse of a bikini top. But the most fascinating part were her eyes, yellow golden in a partly human face. Her cheekbones were too high and her lips formed a slight snout. Her ears were pointed.   
"Who are you?" he asked carefully, body tense.   
"Njahra," she answered and he wondered whether it was really a name or only a growl.   
"What is this place?" Rodimus wanted to know. "Where am I?"   
"These are the Prey Lands." She smiled, revealing a pair of nasty looking fangs. The golden eyes flashed. "And you are the prey."   
With that she jumped him.

* * *

Firefall couldn't say she was shocked. She was surprised, very surprised, but not really shocked. Weirder things had happened to her, though popping up in some kind of jungle, getting turned human and having no idea how she had got here was getting close to 'weird'. No one was around her and though she had been with Kup at the time of her 'abduction' -- at least he had been in the next room -- he wasn't here. Her human body was easy to get used to. The proportions were the same, though moving was different. She was dark-skinned, like she had been in the sun quite a bit, and her hair was long and raven colored, and she was dressed in a dark overall, her feet in strong boots. The only thing she was missing was the feeling of Gaelon inside her and it puzzled her a bit. She wondered what had happened to the Veneran when she had been 'transformed'.   
And who had done it? Who had the power to turn a robot into a human? She had heard about the times Rodimus had been turned human twice and she had read about the facts and looked at the machine. Quite intriguing, but the machine simply removed the consciousness and transferred it into a synthoid body. This abduction hadn't felt like a removal of consciousness. Her robot body had turned human, shrinking in size, and somehow acquiring clothes.   
Suddenly there was a wild roar, followed by a sharp gasp and the rustle of leaves. Firefall strained to find out where it had come from and then moved quickly toward the noise. It sounded like a battle, she mused, and it wouldn't surprise her either. She broke through some low hanging branches and was presented with a sight that required her immediate action.   
Some kind of large, cat-like humanoid was attacking another human, who, like her, was dressed in an overall and boots. The overall was torn at the upper left arm and the wound was bleeding, staining the fabric. Firefall decided that since she somehow felt a kind of kinship rising inside of her toward the human, she'd help him.   
The cat gave a surprised growl as Firefall jumped her and tackled her to the ground. All her assassin instincts kicked in and she found it rather easy to get the cat woman below her and hit her squarely on the jaw, then follow up with a vicious blow to the chest. The cat hissed and tried to sink her claws into Firefall, but the Venerakkin jumped away, rolling to her feet and slamming her heavily booted foot into the cat's mid-section. The attacker went down and immediately tried to get up again. Firefall kicked her again and this time the cat lay still.   
Firefall straightened, panting. Damn this body, she thought. It was easily tired out by fighting. She heard the rustle of leaves again and saw the other human stagger against a tree, holding his copiously bleeding arm. Bright blue eyes stared at her and she was somehow struck by them. His hair had a reddish touch to it and the young face was a mixture of pain and wariness. His right temple was bruised and he looked decidedly pale. She tried to attach a name to him and her mind flashed to the file she had read, the pictures she had seen.   
"Rodimus?!" she exclaimed, approaching him.   
The young man's eyes widened. Now that she was closer she saw assorted different injuries beside the bleeding wound. He had had a nasty encounter with the cat.   
"Who are you?" he asked weakly, supporting his weight against the tree behind him.   
"It's me .... Firefall."   
The blue eyes went even wider. "How....?"   
Firefall caught him as he lost balance. His right hand, holding the wound tightly, was sticky with blood and the overall was soaked with it.   
"Easy, kid," she whispered, trying to peel away the fabric.   
Rodimus winced, but at least he didn't lose consciousness. "How did you get here?"   
"I have no idea," she confessed and winced at the deep wound. "But we'll find out -- after I get your injuries treated. Sit back and relax."   
Rodimus gave a bark of laughter. "Relax? Right!" He hissed in pain as Firefall started to treat his injury and shut up.   
When she was done, Rodimus was even more pale and sweating, but still conscious and that accounted for something. She wished she had something like a medical kit for humans, but who would have thought of something like this happening? Firefall straightened and walked over to the still unconscious body of the cat-woman. She knelt carefully down and searched for a pulse. With a surprised gasp she sat back on her haunches.   
"She's dead!" she exclaimed.   
Rodimus rose unsteadily to his feet and stumbled over. "Dead?" he repeated.   
"Yep. I didn't even hit her all that hard and there are no injuries I can see which could have caused death!"   
"Different body structure?" he hazarded a guess. "She isn't human."   
Firefall shrugged. "Maybe. We might never know." She looked around. "We have to get away from her, Rodimus. I don't like it."   
"Guess who else?" he muttered and sighed. "Where to?"   
Firefall shrugged again. "Anywhere is better than here. Can you walk?"   
The younger man straightened with an effort. "Yes," he growled.   
Firefall hid a smile. She looked into the depths of the forest around her, then chose a direction and walked off. Rodimus followed her and she was again surprised to see he was rather steady on his feet. Soon the jungle had swallowed them and they didn't see how the cat woman disappeared into thin air......

* * *

A new pain ran through it and Ralyk knew that it had come from another child. It hissed in rage. How could they dare?!   
Every pain the children felt, Ralyk felt as well. Normally it would have ignored the slight stings, but not now. Pain was a normal, every day problem and it took a lot to make Ralyk feel it as acutely and directly as for instance its child did, but right now it wanted the pain and it feasted on the sensation, letting the pain make it angry beyond everything it had ever felt.

* * *

"Mine have mastered the first level."   
"Mine will as well," the shadow at the edge of the table said and took the dice.   
All knew that if the third player also mastered the first level, the second level would have to be played like this as well. It made the game much more interesting than if it was already decided at the first level. In the end there could only be two players, but which ones that would be was open.

* * *

Megatron wasn't happy. The body he had was incredibly sensitive to everything and whatever he did, he either felt pain, weariness, hunger or thirst. Right now the weariness was the worst. Walking through endless jungle for miles, tripping over everything, wasn't fun. Especially if the only companions you had were a pain-in-the-neck cat and a woman you had no idea who she really was and who kept glaring at you for no apparent reason. Well, one reason had to be that he wasn't exactly fast following her and he made a whole lot of noise compared to her method of moving, which seemed to be 'flowing' through the trees and bushes.   
His mind was another matter. While he kept his body moving with one part, the other was pondering what had happened and why he had changed into a human. He had to confess he suddenly felt a kind of respect for these fleshy creatures because they achieved a lot with those weak and mortal bodies, who were hurt so easily and healed much slower than a robot's. His hand touched the torn fabric of his overall and the soft skin beneath. He felt sick at the contact of skin against skin. The wound had healed quickly and even without Lancer's remark he'd have realized that this wasn't normal. Maybe it was this strange world, maybe Sparks was right and it was his 'messed-up' structure, maybe it was something else. Whatever it was: it wasn't normal!   
This also reminded him of the pain. He shuddered at the memory. Nothing had ever hurt like this. Nothing! And humans suffered through this? He shook his head. He stared at his hands and flexed them. Nerves reacted. Muscles moved. He shuddered again.   
Sparks suddenly joined him bringing up the rear while Lancer once again moved effortlessly through the undergrowth and disappeared to scout ahead.   
"Five fingers," she commented with a grin. "Any more and you wouldn't be human. Then again, you aren't human."   
He shot her a nasty look, but otherwise kept his quiet.   
"Are you okay?" the cat asked softly.   
Megatron was about to give her a sharp reply, then briefly closed his eyes and pressed his lips into a tight line.   
"That bad, eh?" Sparks muttered, her emerald eyes serious. "It's not easy to be human."   
Megatron's eyes took on a slightly red glow. "I'm not human!" he hissed.   
Sparks nodded. "And I'm not a real cat and this is not real either, but we are in and have to live it through."   
He knew that, but he was not yet ready to give in to the overpowering feelings of this body. Deep inside of him was a terrible fear that this condition was permanent...... Being human permanently was a nightmare and right now he was living this nightmare without a chance to wake up.   
"We will get back," Sparks added calmly. "I know we will."   
Megatron didn't reply. He stared darkly into the jungle.

* * *

In a different dimension with different problems but nearly the same people to solve them, Optimus Prime paced his office. The news that both Lancer and Rodimus were gone had come in minutes before and no one had any idea where they were. The Maelstrom had not been able to locate them anywhere on Cybertron and this worried the Autobot leader. Something was wrong and he had no idea what it was. Something similar had happened before and at that time it had been a dimensional gateway. Had it happened again?   
Optimus walked over to the interphone and contacted Blaster and Perceptor. They both knew more about this mysterious dimensional connection than anyone. Maybe there was a way to find out whether there was a new opening anywhere. It was the only thing to do right now -- and the only way to keep himself busy.

* * *

He felt terrible. There were moments he was sharply and very clearly aware of his surroundings, then everything blurred into one hazy mist. His body ached everywhere, there were bruised parts all over his back where he had hit the hard ground and his arm seemed to be on fire every time he used it. Rodimus leaned against a tree and inhaled deeply, trying to clear his head.   
Firefall appeared beside him, her dark golden eyes full of worry. "Are you all right?"   
"Yes!" he snarled.   
She drew her brows together. "You have a concussion," she told him.   
"What do you know about humans, hm?" he snapped. "You have no idea, that's what you have!"   
Firefall's face showed irritation. "And since you are Interfaced you have all that knowledge, right?" she asked sarcastically.   
"No, but at least I'm not walking around thinking I'm the top of the world!"   
"Oh, that's how you think of me?"   
Rodimus frowned. "No, that's how you act! Since you appeared we had nothing but trouble because you omitted facts! You think you are better because you went through so much? You think you can tell us how to act? I don't think so! You were caught up in your own little war and the universe around you continued to exist!" He closed his eyes as another wave of pain hit him. When he opened them again, Firefall regarded him thoughtfully. "What?" he demanded.   
"If you were anyone but Rodimus Prime I'd have taught you a lesson about manners right now," the Venerakkin said calmly. "But you are Rodimus Prime and I know that what you say holds its truth. I'm sorry for what I have done in the past and it is hard for me to learn how to get back to a more or less normal life, a life among my own kind, my old friend, again. But I'm trying. I know I brought you a lot of pain, you and others. I know I'm at fault, but please try to understand me as well. I lived a constant war; I had no outside contacts to my kind other than those with me." She smiled. "But I had contacts to humanoids and they were not unlike those humans on Earth. You were hurt badly by this cat and you need rest."   
He inhaled deeply again, wishing he could simply turn off the pain as he could have done in his robot body -- if the circuits were on-line.   
"Sorry," he whispered.   
Firefall shook her head. "Don't. You are entitled to your anger, though I'd advise we wait for the next fight until we're home."   
He smiled a bit, evoking a slight smile in her as well. "Let's try and find somewhere more comfortable, then rest," he decided.   
Firefall nodded. The walked on.

* * *

Lancer tensed as she heard the footsteps. Megatron tensed as well and shot her an inquiring look. She shook her head and gestured silently toward the group of bushes hiding the animal trail they had followed for the last hours. Sparks, who had started to claim Megatron's shoulders as her resting place whenever she was tired jumping and running around on the jungle floor, crouched down, her fur rising. Something was coming their way, crossing the trail, and it was moving softly. Suddenly two figures stepped into view. It were a man and a woman. The woman looked around, her eyes alert, and she moved with the grace of a dancer. She was dark-skinned with long, black hair and almond-shaped eyes, which had a weird golden color. The man was a bit too pale and had brown hair with a reddish touch. His blue eyes were clouded. He showed multiple injuries.   
Sparks wrinkled her nose, then her ears popped up again and her fur flattened back on her back. "I don't believe it!" she whispered.   
Lancer shot her an angry glare. As a predatory animal herself Sparks should know to keep silent! Before the young mutant could do something, the cat jumped out of hiding and jogged toward the two strangers.   
"Rodimus?" Sparks asked, looking at the man.   
"Oh, no!" the man groaned. "Sparks? How many of us are here? And why are you a cat?"   
Lancer froze. Rodimus? Shanygn's Rodimus? And human? She carefully straightened from behind her cover, aware that Megatron was also coming out of hiding. Rodimus stared at her in recognition.   
"Lancer!" he breathed. "Don't tell me we jumped dimensions again?!"   
Lancer smiled humorlessly. "I have no idea. Hello, Rodimus."   
The Autobot sighed, smiling a bit.   
"Who's your friend?" Lancer asked.   
"Oh, that's Firefall. Not exactly an Autobot."   
Megatron joined Lancer and smiled darkly, though his eyes had completely lost the red glow, which gave Lancer a clue as to what his tension level was. "Not exactly anything except a constant source of problems."   
Firefall's eyes flashed. "Who are you?" she demanded angrily.   
He smiled. "Don't tell me you don't recognize me."   
Sparks snorted. "Everyone would recognize you in any form," she muttered.   
"Megatron?" Rodimus blue eyes grew wide.   
Megatron's cold brown eyes answered him. Rodimus shook his head again.   
"I don't think it's a doorway accident this time," the Autobot commander now muttered. "I wasn't even close to the damn chamber!"   
"None of us was," Sparks told him. "But still, we're here."   
"And going where?" Firefall asked.   
"Finding my Rodimus," Lancer answered.   
The present Rodimus rolled his eyes. "He's here as well?"   
"Apparently. Strangely enough, I can't feel him as acutely as I normally do. Distance never was a problem for the mind-link, but right now I can only feel the direction of his presence, not get into contact with him."   
Rodimus frowned as he heard the darkness in her voice.   
"What happened to you?" Sparks answered and looked at him.   
"He tangled with a cat," Firefall remarked dryly.   
Sparks raised a furry eyebrow. "Cat?"   
"Two-legged, humanoid in build and not in any mood to tell me more than that we are apparently in what is called the Prey Lands and that I was her prey," Rodimus explained, gently rubbing his wound, wincing.   
Lancer frowned deeply. "Prey Lands? What happened to her?"   
"She's dead," Firefall answered briefly.   
Megatron smiled coldly, but didn't comment on it.   
"Sounds like the predators we met," Sparks muttered.   
"Predators?"   
Lancer gave a brief description of the encounter, omitting Megatron's fast healing from the story. Rodimus and Firefall both looked worried.   
"I don't like the sound of it," Firefall muttered.   
"Me neither. We better find my dimensional twin first, then see what we can come up with to get us back," Rodimus decided.   
Lancer nodded. "Good idea." She concentrated again and then nodded toward the animal trail. "That way it's the strongest."   
The small team set out again.

* * *

"Oh my....." Sil muttered and stared open-mouthed at the sight below.   
Rodimus had to confess he was stunned too. After plowing through an endless forest they had finally arrived here, looking at the ruins of some kind of village and the stunning beauty of the landscape in front of them. The village was several hundred feet away from them. The place was completely clear of trees. The view was terrific.   
They slowly walked toward the ruins, entering them through a broken archway, using what must have been the main road of the city once. It led from what Rodimus thought of as the temple to an empty square that looked like a market place. In the middle of the square was a mosaic of different colors and shapes. It was beautifully detailed and looked very old.   
"Who do you think lived here?" Silhouette asked, looking around.   
Rodimus shrugged. He wasn't really interested who had lived here; he was more interested of what was here now, like for example predators. But everything looked quiet and calm in the midday heat. There were no sounds other than birds or the occasional insect noise.   
Suddenly they heard a dark rumble deep inside the earth. Both stopped, looking at each other in confusion. Then the earth shook.   
"Did you just feel what I felt?" Silhouette asked.   
"Earthquake?" Rodimus asked in dread.   
The earth shook again, this time with more force. Both staggered to keep their balance, Silhouette also using her tail to keep on her feet.   
"Earthquake!" she yelled and gave Rodimus a shove toward the city limit.   
They had to get out of the ruins. She didn't plan to get buried by crumbling stone walls, and there were quite a few walls still ready to crumble. The earth shook with even more force and suddenly everything dropped from sight.

*

He knew he should be in pain because when he looked at his body all he saw was a bloody mess. He had a dozen or so wounds, most of them bleeding. But there was no pain. There was no sensation at all. He watched with clinical detachment as his body was tortured. Suddenly one of the torturers loomed up in front of him, holding some device he didn't know, but his instincts told him what he could expect.   
_Light blinded him._   
_Pain raced through him._   
_His body collapsed and he curled into a tight ball._   
_He didn't scream._   
_He wouldn't give them the satisfaction._   
_Instead, someone else screamed, then suddenly stopped._   
_He opened his eyes and saw a familiar figure._   
_"Goldbug?" he whispered hoarsely._   
_The other one glared down at him, accusation bright in his eyes. His face was a dark mask of anger and rage, of hidden fury. His body was mutilated by so many sessions of getting tortured and the only thing alive and unharmed were his eyes._   
_The eyes._   
_He was drawn to them._   
_"Your fault," Goldbug said and then turned away._   
_He tried to scream, to tell him not to go._   
_Nonono, not my fault!_   
_Your fault!_   
_He cried in agony, though no sound came over his lips._   
_The figure of Goldbug walked back toward the alien torturers._   
_NO! Don't go!!_   
_But Goldbug went._   
_He tried to get up, but his body didn't respond anymore. He discovered that he was chained to the floor, the torture instruments hovering above him all of a sudden. He strained against the shackles._   
_Save Goldbug._   
_Don't let them have him._   
_Protect his friend._   
_It was his duty to protect!_   
_Suddenly one of them burst._   
_He had a hand free._   
_He looked up at his enemy._   
_Cold eyes looked down on him._   
_His hand reached up for the throat and his fingers curled around it._

*

Sil opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She was in a small cave, light filtering in through the opening about her. The opening was several dozen feet above her reach and she doubted she could jump that high. She tried to get up and nearly lost her balance as dizziness swept over her. She staggered against the wall and closed her eyes, breathing hard. The dizziness started to disappear and she felt better by the minute. Her massive body was recovering with the speed needed in the wild to survive. She opened her eyes again and searched the cave for another presence, preferably Rodi. She found him lying not far away, apparently unconscious. Sil walked over to him and nudged him gently with her snout.   
Rodimus' eyes flew open and his hand came up, striking her throat. His fingers tried to curl around her armored throat. Sil gave a wheeze of pain and stumbled back, her instincts letting her snarl and flash her teeth. She got control back quickly.   
"It's me, Rodi!" she called.   
Rodimus' eyes, flaring in bright green, turned the usual blue again and he breathed heavily. He stared at her as if she was a complete stranger, then rubbed his forehead. He was bathed in sweat.   
"Sil! I'm..... I'm sorry."   
She shook her head. "I shouldn't have surprised you like this. I don't really look all that comforting."   
Rodimus got to his feet. "It wasn't that," he mumbled, looking away, evading her eyes. "I'm really sorry...."   
"Listen, it's okay...."   
"No, it isn't!" he nearly yelled. "It's not okay to attack you! If you were human I'd have killed you!"   
Sil tilted her head to one side. "But I ain't and you didn't. So let's forget it and find a way out of here."   
Rodimus looked at her, his eyes reflecting something Sil couldn't quite place. He held her steady gaze for a second, then looked around and up. "Oh, great!"   
Sil smiled humorlessly, deciding not to ask what had really happened. She knew she wouldn't get an answer. Curious how much alike both Rodimus Primes were, she mused.   
Rodimus nodded toward what looked like the only exit out of this cave. "Let's try this way."   
She nodded and followed him. The carefully stepped outside and glanced around the corridor. Sil was glad it was high enough to accommodate her raptor form. She couldn't see anyone or anything; everything was abandoned.   
"Where now? Left or right?" she asked.   
Rodimus shrugged. Both ways looked the same and they decided to go left.   
Silhouette didn't know how long they had been walking down the endless tunnel when they reached a crossing. Like before they decided to go left, both walking in silence. She felt like a rat in a maze.   
Until now the wall had consisted of red sandstone, but now, after the last turn, the sandstone made way for gray slate. The lighting which had been provided by glowing moss and lichen stopped. There was only blackness in front of them.   
"Oh, goody," Rodimus muttered and she saw how he straightened, as if he tried to ready himself for a confrontation.   
Silhouette inhaled deeply, trying to scent something, but except for dank darkness there was nothing. It was no use, they had to go on. They both stepped into the darkness and Sil's eyes adjusted slightly, her reptile eyes trying to pierce the darkness, work with what they could deceiver. It wasn't much and it grew steadily worse. Rodimus felt along the wall as they walked deeper and deeper into the dark corridor. After a few steps the lighting from the glowing moss behind them had disappeared and they were in complete blackness. Sil could smell Rodimus and she thought she could read his emotions through it. He was worried and afraid, but not for himself -- for her. She smiled slightly. Both he and his dimensional twin, her Rodimus, were so much alike in that regard. Since she couldn't see a thing so she concentrated on her other senses, hoping her animal side was as keen as it was in her robot mode.

Rodimus made his way down the dark corridor, wherever it was leading. He couldn't see a thing and like Sil he had to trust in his remaining senses, which was hard enough. But Lancer had not trained him for years to make him helpless in a dark environment. He kept to the wall, ears open for every step, shutting out Sil's almost, but only almost, inaudible steps, and listening to any noise at all. He tried to hear the echo of their movements, even if they were so quiet, and sense if there was a wall.   
After some time of straight walls it seemed that the corridor was bending one way. He stopped and Sil did the same, her breath close to him, but still far away enough not to crowd him. Maybe they had reached a crossing.   
"Something wrong?" Sil asked softly.   
"We reached a crossing."   
He stretched out his hands and tried to find the opposite wall to get some idea what kind of crossing it was. Suddenly he stepped into nothingness. Rodimus staggered back from the nothingness, trying to keep his balance. Even though he twisted his body and flung out his arms, he fell and his upper body hit the ground. He gasped and his fingers clawed into the rock-hard ground.   
Someone grabbed him, sharp talons biting into his arm. He tried not to cry out at the sudden pain, biting his teeth. Silhouette suddenly gave a groan and her talons disappeared, making way for soft fingers. Rodimus was already half-way up the wall he was clinging to and finally lay on the ground, breathing hard. Beside him lay someone else, equally breathing hard.   
"Silhouette?" he asked breathlessly.   
"Yes," was the weak reply and he thought he felt energies build up close by. She hissed in pain and something happened beside him. Rodimus frowned as he heard a growl, then sharp talons scraping over the rocks.   
"Sil?" he inquired again.   
"I'm..... all right, I think." She sounded confused and he wished he could see in the darkness. She inhaled deeply. "That was weird."   
Suddenly it started to get brighter and brighter. After some seconds it was bright enough for both to see. The young Autobot discovered that he was standing in some kind of large room. About 20 feet away from him was a wall. And directly in front of them was an endless, black void. Both of them were standing only a few steps away from the edge.   
Rodimus looked over at Sil, who was staring into the void he had nearly fallen down into. It was deep. Very, very deep! Now she looked up and their eyes met. Something was strange here. He looked into the void again and frowned deeply as he suddenly made out what seemed to be a kind of corridor.   
"Why do I have the feeling this is like a game?" Silhouette muttered.   
Rodimus nodded slowly. It felt like a game to him as well. Someone was playing it and they were the pawns, moving through different levels. They had just successfully completed the first one, now it was time to go on.   
"Someone wants us to go down there," he mused out aloud.   
Sil nodded. But how? There was no way she could climb down there. She snorted in frustration.   
Rodimus gave her a thoughtful look. "When you pulled me back from the ledge ... what happened to you?"   
Silhouette frowned. "I ....turned human."   
He nodded. "Can you do it again?"   
The frown deepened. "Maybe, but I have no idea how I did it!"   
"Just try thinking of it."   
She smiled humorlessly. "If you think it works...."   
She closed her eyes and suddenly there seemed to be some kind of aura around her. Rodimus took an involuntary step back as Silhouette's raptor body stretched, growing upright, the neck shrinking down into her shoulders, hair spilling out of her head and the snout reducing and reforming until it was a face. The talons grew back into her hands and the hind legs twisted and reshaped themselves into human legs. The tail shrunk back as well and the whole body seemed to lose weight and size rapidly. The skin turned from striped to spotted, the hair coloring slate gray, the skin brown with darker blotches. Sil's back arched and her mouth opened, giving Rodimus a view of the sharp canines morphing into normal human teeth. Silhouette gasped and her knees buckled. Rodimus caught her and he felt her body trembling badly, her breath coming in rapid gasps. Finally she quieted down a bit and opened her eyes. They were not completely human, just like she was not a typical human. The eyes had a slightly reptilian look to them, predatory, but beautifully green.   
Silhouette looked a bit puzzled at first, then raised her hand and studied it. "I'm ...." She licked her lips. "I'm back."   
The Autobot remembered what Lancer had told him about the female Dinobot, that she had been a humanoid first, killed by Braintrust and then reborn into the body of a Dinobot. Now she looked like she had in her human body.....   
"Are you okay?" he asked.   
She nodded, then her eyes traveled down her clothed body. "How did I get those clothes?" she wondered aloud.   
Rodimus shrugged. He had seen a brief blur around her before the transformation was complete and then she had been clothed -- and the overall she wore looked like the one Rodimus was wearing, only in a lighter gray and with some blue in it.   
"This was so weird," she muttered and carefully got to her feet.   
She was steady on her legs and about as tall as Rodimus. Her hair hung heavily down her back and now he saw that the eyes were slightly vertical.   
"Well, I think we should get down there," Rodimus told her, trying not to puzzle about this transformation. It was too weird and right now they had more urgent things on their hands.   
Silhouette nodded and searched for a way down. Rodimus was the first to discover the handholds cut into the stone. They exchanged a look. There was no doubt about it now: all of this had been planned by someone.   
"I hate games," Sil muttered and swung her legs over the ledge, feeling for the first much too narrow foothold.   
Rodimus watched her climb carefully down, then followed.

* * *

Night had fallen and a small fire was burning in the middle of their camp. Lancer and Firefall had gone out searching for edible food, trusting into the nature of animals around here to be edible while Megatron and Rodimus remained behind in the camp. Lancer had told them she was used to hunting food and Firefall had simply joined her. Right now Megatron sat opposite Rodimus, staring into the fire. Sparks sat beside him on the log, finally laying down close to him, her body touching his thigh.   
"I wish I knew what brought us here," Rodimus muttered and played with a broken twig, drawing circles on the ground.   
"The last time it was the doorway?" Megatron asked, raising his eyes to watch him through the fire. Shadows danced over his face.   
Rodimus nodded. He gave Megatron a brief summary of what had happened the last two time. "...which doesn't help us," he finished because there was no doorway opening this time."   
"At least none we understand," the Decepticon leader added.   
Rodimus frowned and they both looked thoughtfully at each other. "If that's a fact," Rodimus finally said, "we might not find a way out of here."   
"We will find a way," Megatron snarled. "I won't spend my life in a flesh shell, living through this hell hole of a jungle!"   
The Autobot rubbed his arm absent-mindedly, nodding. He wasn't too fond of that idea either. "But to get out of here we have to find out how we got in first," he reminded the Decepticon leader. "And it looks we all popped up in different places and we are from different places, even from different dimensions."   
Megatron nodded and they both fell back into silence, only broken by the sounds of the night. Rodimus felt an odd tingle in the back of his mind and suddenly he saw a slightly washed-out picture of an ancient ruin. He felt the urge to go there because someone inside needed him. He urgency was squashed violently by the feeling that someone was with him, someone who wouldn't agree to venture into the ruin. Then the picture faded and he blinked. Everything hadn't lasted more than a second.   
Rodimus rubbed his eyes and felt the sensation fade completely. It was like it had never been there.   
Some time later a shadow moved out of the night and materialized into Lancer. She was carrying something that could be called a rabbit, though it missed some features of an Earth rabbit. It was already gutted. She was followed by Firefall, who carried some vegetables, which looked not like something Rodimus wanted to try. Lancer made no sound as she walked toward them, but Rodimus saw that Sparks' ears were moving like little radar dishes. The cat had apparently heard her.   
Lancer threw the rabbits down beside the fire. "We are truly not alone here," she said without preamble. "Firefall and I discovered the ruin of an old city not far from here."   
Megatron's head came up and his eyes narrowed. The shadows seemed to dance wildly over his hard features. "Where?"   
"It's in the middle of a clearing beneath the mountains," Firefall reported.   
Lancer started to skin the dinner. "There is no use going now. It's too dark and we need the rest." She threw Megatron a pointed look.   
The Decepticon snarled something under his breath, but he settled back, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sparks used this maneuver to jump onto his lap and curl up there. Megatron shot the cat a nasty look, but didn't remove her. Rodimus smiled a bit.   
"We'll have a look at the ruins tomorrow," Firefall said as she sat down beside him. "It's quite far by foot and I have to agree with Lancer. We need rest and food."   
Rodimus grimaced, watching Lancer cut the rabbit apart and put the meat on sticks leaning into the fire. He didn't really feel like eating. Firefall followed his gaze and smiled in sympathy. She wasn't too thrilled about it either, but it was necessary to survive so she would go through with it.   
"How far in your estimation?"   
Firefall thought about it. "We needed quite some time back," she then said. "Several miles at least."   
Rodimus nodded and still watched Lancer. He had thought as much. Lancer had told him about the link and that she felt her life partner, and Rodimus had enough experience with mind links to tell what had happened. If Firefall hadn't been with the young mutant. Lancer would have gone into the ruins.   
"How is Gaelon?" he suddenly asked softly.   
Firefall gave him a startled look, then shook her head. "I have no idea. I'm not even sure she came with me. I can't feel her anywhere inside me and I doubt humans have a matrix space."   
Rodimus looked slightly shocked. "But ... where is she if not inside you?"   
Firefall looked neutrally at him, but her eyes flashed with worry and fear. "I have no idea." There was a short silence, then it was her turn to ask. "Can you feel Shanygn?"   
Rodimus frowned, then shook his head. "Not really, no. She isn't gone, but .... not there either. It's not like the last time we changed dimensions, when Shanygn was ripped out of me." He shuddered with the memory and his face became a shade paler. "Last time it hurt," he continued softly, "this time ..... it's like someone put shields around her. She's present, but not with me."   
Firefall nodded. "I have the same feeling about Gaelon. I can't talk to her, I can't feel her, but I know she's there, just far, far away." The Venerakkin studied the tanned skin of her hands, which were perfectly human. Then she looked at Lancer, who was busying herself preparing the food. "She is bonded to your dimensional twin?"   
Rodimus nodded. "On a different level than Shanygn and me," he said vaguely, feeling unqualified to explain the relationship any further.   
Firefall shot him an amused look, but said nothing. She settled down on the ground and looked into the dark forest.   
Rodimus walked over to Lancer and waited until she was done with the meat, then sat down beside her.   
"Can you still feel my twin?"   
She nodded.   
"Anywhere near the ruins?"   
She looked up sharply, her eyes flashing briefly in silverish white. Rodimus gave her a disarming smile.   
"Yes," she finally answered. "It was the strongest feeling I ever had of him."   
"And that's how you came upon the ruins," he concluded calmly   
"Have you gone telepathic or what?"   
He grinned again. "No, I merely thought that running several miles to find food is nothing I'd do in such an environment, especially after the encounters we all had."   
Lancer gave him an odd look.   
"What?" he asked.   
"It wasn't all guess work," she stated flatly. "You barely know me, Rodimus Prime. And don't tell me you know human nature. You don't." Her brows drew together into an angry line.   
Rodimus inhaled deeply. "I saw the ruin," he then said.   
Lancer seemed to draw back from him, though she didn't move an inch. "You saw it?" she echoed, her voice taking on an almost hostile note.   
He nodded slowly. "For a second. I had no idea what I was looking at and only when you came back fell the pieces together."   
Lancer clenched her hands into fists and he saw her eyes glow again. He stood his ground, staring back, feeling something build up in his mind, but it went away again. He closed his eyes briefly, relieved when the pressure was gone.   
"You ...." Lancer hissed and he saw the fangs in her mouth, though they were rather moderate. "How?" she then demanded.   
"I have no idea," he whispered. "But you know Shanygn has access to my twin's mind, or is the recipient of his nightmares, to be correct."   
"And you are the recipient of my demon," Lancer said in such a low voice he had to strain to hear her.   
"I think so," he said slowly. "But it's not so bad, really."   
"You have no idea!" she snarled, her voice still low. "When I was at the ruin, the demon rose! I felt Rodi, I felt he was in trouble! It came in through the link for a second and it made me lose control!"   
He still faced her. "The last time we met you were very much in control, except for the odd moment or two. And my twin told me once that you are getting much better, especially since you two had kids."   
"This doesn't change a thing about the fact that we two are linked through the demon!" Lancer growled and buried her claws in the earth, trying to calm herself.   
Their eyes met and she bared her fangs again, then rose and walked away. Rodimus closed his eyes and sighed deeply. This might grow into a real problem.

* * *

They had arrived at the bottom of the void after strenuous hours of climbing and Rodimus had to give it to Sil, she was fit. Of course she was breathing hard, but she was not as beaten as he had been years ago when he had climbed chasms with Lancer on some unnamed planet. Now they sat at the bottom of the void, regaining their breath, looking around. Rodimus felt tired and he saw that Sil needed some quiet as well.   
"We should get some rest," he told his companion. "Maybe even sleep. I have no idea what we might encounter up ahead, so we better use this period of quiet to ....recharge."   
Sil smiled and nodded, sitting down on the floor, which was covered by fine sand. Against his better judgment, Rodimus fell asleep minutes later, his human body claiming its right for deep rest.

 _A scraping noise._   
_She looked around, but saw nothing. Everything was empty._   
_"Hello?" she called._   
_"Hello," a dark voice answered and she whirled around._   
_Her mouth opened to scream as she saw the towering robot, but she never came that far. Something hit her and she collapsed._   
_The robot bent down and picked her up effortlessly._   
_Pain!_   
_She was violently forced out of her body, feeling the pain and the emotional upheaval._   
_More pain!_   
_No, I don't want to die!_   
_Nerve fibers were ripped apart, neurons died, her mind was viciously cut and violated._   
_No!_   
_She felt her identity slip, felt it dissuade into nothingness._   
_Her heart beat slower and slower, finally stopping. She felt cells in her body scream for oxygen, blood, food. She felt muscles grow lax, dying. She felt all organs stop, her lungs collapsing. Her mind battled against the blackness of oxygen deprivation, finally falling apart, dying as well. Everything a dying person never felt assaulted her._   
_She screamed, not from pain but from emotional agony as her mind was ripped out of her dead body and flung into a new pool of pain. Everything broke._   
_No! I'm Roma Chi'lachn! I'm Katarkian! I'm Roma Chi'lachn.....I'm ... I'm Roma....._   
_Someone else claimed her, made her part of himself. She forced herself to keep fighting, though her mind was tired, her body weak._   
_She gave a cry of desperation._

Rodimus was roused out of his slumber by heavy breathing and moaning. His eyes snapped open, his mind alert immediately. He looked over to where Sil lay on the ground, trashing wildly, her face distorted in pain and fear.   
She had a nightmare, he realized and crawled to her side.   
"Sil!" he called, touching her.   
Sil's hands flailed out, her mouth opening to scream, but it was only a hoarse cry. He caught the hands and held her down, but this evoked an even worse reaction. Her eyes snapped open, somehow glowing deeply, and her body started to morph. From one second to the next Rodimus was facing several tons of angry claws, teeth and talons. Silhouette lashed out once more and he was just quick enough to get out of the way. She roared, clearly not aware what she was doing.   
Sil staggered back, her eyes wide and she stared suddenly at her body. She gave a moan of denial and morphed once more back into her human form, falling to her knees with a sob.   
"No!" she breathed.   
Rodimus approached her carefully. "Sil?"   
She looked up, eyes hazy with tear. "I'm sorry," she whispered with a tear-filled voice.   
"Nothing happened," he said gently as he knelt down beside her. "Nightmare?"   
She bit her lip.   
"Want to talk about it?" he asked, using the same technique Lancer had used on him, hoping it had better results than with him.   
"I thought I had fought them," she whispered. "I thought I had conquered them.... now part of them are back."   
"Part of what?"   
Her troubled, anguished eyes met his compassionate ones. "You know I was borne humanoid."   
He nodded. "Shanygn once gave Lancer a brief idea and you added some explanations as well. It's quite intriguing from my point of view since we never had such a case where I come from." Rodimus smiled softly.   
She nodded. "Apparently it's a rather tricky thing," she agreed, voice still rough. "But it worked. You also know how it all happened."   
"Braintrust," was all Rodimus answered.   
Again Sil nodded. "I never had a complete set of memories, you know. I knew I had a humanoid origin and I knew I had been killed...... but I never truly remembered it. Okay, I had nightmares and I won over them, but they never concerned ..... my actual death. They concerned the time afterwards, when I was inside Optimus, keeping him alive." Her nails bit into her palms. "I just died," she whispered. "In all the gruesome details."   
Sil started to tremble and Rodimus did the only thing he could think of: he took her into his arms. He could only imagine what it was like. He had his own nightmares and his own pain, and he knew someone else could never really share them. Sil was the same. Her mind had been raped, cut apart, violated, torn and reassembled, and now it all came back.   
"I never knew who I had been before my rebirth," she whispered. "Now I do. I know this body is my old body. I know my name, my life, everything is back." She shook her head in desperation. "It's flooding me; I can't handle it!" She screwed her eyes shut, trembling even more.   
"You can handle it," Rodimus said forcefully. "You did it before and you can do it now! It's your life and you have lived it; now you have a new life and both of them are colliding, but they don't have to destroy each other in the process!"   
Sil bit her lip, drawing blood, trying to pull away from him. She was silent for a long time, but Rodimus saw how she battled everything surfacing inside of her. After some time she seemed to relax, her face a tired mask of determination.   
"We should get some more rest," Rodimus said softly.   
"I can't sleep," she whispered.   
"You don't have to sleep, just rest. I'll be here with you, Sil."   
She looked at him and smiled slightly. Rodimus already saw returning confidence in her eyes and he knew she was a strong woman and could make it. If she weren't that strong-willed she wouldn't have survived as a robot for all that time when she had been borne humanoid. He knew what pressure it put upon a human mind to be inside an artificial body. He had read enough about Spike and the mind transfer into Autobot X.   
"Thanks," she said and leaned back against the rough wall. "You know, we are one messed up combination," she added with a humorless smile.   
Rodimus looked at her as if she had hit a sore spot.   
"Sorry," she whispered. "I .... it wasn't meant like this." She shook her head.   
"No, it's not your fault. You are right," he muttered, rubbing his eyes.   
"But you won't talk about it," she said softly, stating it like a fact.   
"You wouldn't understand."   
"Try me."   
Their eyes met and he was very much tempted to tell her. But why? Silhouette evoked an incredible feeling of trust, as if he knew her. Then again, maybe he did -- in a way. His dimensional twin and Sil were life partners and in a strange way he thought that if his own life had gone radically different, he might have ended up with someone like her. Then again, his was a different life and there wasn't Silhouette, there was Lancer. The memory of his own life partner made him smile a bit.   
"Not tonight," he said after a time of silence.   
Silhouette nodded, accepting it.   
He moved a bit away from her to give her the necessary space, then tried to relax and give his body another chance to rest.

* * *

The forest opened up into a clearing and there were the ruins. There weren't many buildings and the main feature was a cave coming out of the mountain. There were about ten buildings, one main one and several smaller ones; all were in a state of decay with vines growing all over them.   
"Eerie," Sparks muttered, staying on Megatron's shoulder, claws gripping the fabric of his overall.   
Lancer seemed to be in some kind of trance as they approached the ruins and Rodimus recognized the expression on her face. Shanygn had worn similar ones and he knew it meant she was scanning for something, most likely Rodimus' dimensional twin. Her eyes were starting to glow more and more and her hands twitched. Rodimus winced as he felt a pain behind his eyes and thought he saw a dark cave, a deep void......   
"Something's here," she muttered.   
As if on her words, something exploded out of the ruins.   
"Shit!"   
The creature was large, about twelve feet tall and consisted of dozens of tentacles and eyes, and was covered with blackish-blue scales.  There was something looking like a mouth on one side of the lumpy body.  The tentacles twitched on the ground, coiling and uncoiling like snakes. Its eyes fixed on the humans and then it attacked.   
"Scatter!" Firefall shouted and jumped out of the way.   
Rodimus did the same. He jumped to the side and rolled up to his feet again. Suddenly a violent pain struck him and he gasped, grabbing his head. Like through a tunnel he saw angry white fire burn up inside of him, changing him, raping his body and violently transforming it. He was nearly blinded by the vicious pain and for several seconds there was nothing but this white fire all around him. He thought he felt talons grow out of his fingers, his feet splitting into claws, fangs in his mouth....   
Then the pain ebbed slightly, but was still present. He couldn't really see, but he thought he knew what was happening around him. He was linked to Lancer; he felt her transformation in every detail and his nerve endings screamed.   
Then a new wave hit and this time it was too much. The fire burned his soul, cut his body apart, destroyed him. He cried out and collapsed.

Megatron heard an anguished cry, a scream out of the depths of a tortured soul. He whirled around and saw Rodimus collapse as if his strings had been cut. He ran over, grabbed him, and pulled him out of the way of the rampaging monster. Lancer was holding the monstrosity in check with what looked like energy bolts, but most of them glanced off its hide, though she managed to draw the attacker away from the defenseless others.   
He ignored the battle and checked the unconscious man for new wounds, but found none other than the dozens of cuts, bruises and the deep arm injury he had had before. Rodimus stirred and opened his eyes. Megatron was briefly shocked by the silverish glow in them, the demonic light Lancer's eyes showed as well. It subsided immediately, but it had been long enough to see a similarity. Rodimus tried to rise, but couldn't.   
"What happened?" he whispered, rubbing his forehead.   
"You collapsed," Megatron said without judgment.   
Rodimus shot him a strange look, then his eyes suddenly widened. "Primus!"   
Megatron followed his wide-eyed look and discovered two strangers, both humanoid, running out of the cave.   
"Rodi?" Rodimus breathed.   
"What?"   
"My dimensional twin," the other answered.   
The other Rodimus stopped and stared in horror at the monster, which was between him and the strange woman, and the group of other humans. Lancer shot a last energy lance at the creature and suddenly it collapsed into a heap, its tentacles still twitching. Her head whipped around immediately and she lost part of her demonic looks as she became aware of Rodi.   
Rodimus tried to rise again and Megatron helped him, pulling him up without a problem. He and Megatron jogged over to the others, approaching them from the left. Firefall was already with Lancer, checking the dead creature, and Sparks followed Megatron.   
"Lancer!" Rodi breathed, his eyes wide.   
She smiled at him, then her smile widened as she saw him check the group with her, his face displaying recognition and puzzlement.   
"I think we need to get somewhere quiet and settle things down," Rodimus decided. He smiled at his dimensional twin, who looked different from him in human form, but a similarity couldn't be denied.

*

Lancer and Firefall carried the 'dinner' into the small camp and the moment they both started preparing it, Rodi's face fell, as did that of his dimensional twin. They both stared at the for them disgusting looking raw meat and both seemed to grow another shade of green. Sil looked from one to another and had to grin. When she saw similar expressions of utter nausea flash over their faces, she cracked with laughter. Lancer looked up and had to smile as well. Her life-partner sent very clear messages of what she could do with this dead animal and from the looks on Roddy's face, he would have told her the same. Sil was crying with laughter and it earned her a nasty look from Rodimus.   
"Sorry," she gasped, trying to come up for air.   
Lancer directed a burst of energy at the meat and fried it within seconds, then threw it toward Rodi, who caught it easily. He looked at it with a mixture of revulsion and silent acceptance.   
"Eat," Lancer said briskly.   
Silhouette took another piece of 'dinner' and held it out to her life-partner. Roddy grimaced.   
"Eat," Sil said with a smile, putting as much authority in her voice as Lancer had done.   
"You can't make me," he muttered, but he took it.   
Lancer gave him a nasty smile. "But I can. Ask Rodi."   
His dimensional twin shot Rodimus a suffering look. "She can."   
Roddy rolled his eyes, then looked over to where Firefall was chewing on something looking like a root. Megatron sat further away, playing with his share of root, his face cast in shadows. While Lancer and her partner settled down and ate, Rodimus nodded an excuse at Sil and gave back the food. He rose and walked over to the Decepticon. Megatron looked up and Rodimus saw a steady red glow in his eyes. This more than any other bodily sign gave him a hint as to what Megatron's state of mind was. Sparks lay at his side like a silent support of faith. She looked at Rodimus with soft emerald eyes, then curled up again.   
"You okay?" he asked nevertheless and sat down.   
Megatron didn't answer.   
"Lancer said you were hurt."   
"It healed," was the low hissed reply.   
"It's difficult to be in this body, I know," Rodimus went on, ignoring the rising glow of red. "A flesh body has more sensations to cope with, has a higher experience of pain and you can't shut anything off. And eating is hell." He tried a smile.   
Megatron kept on glaring, his hands clenching around the root.   
Rodimus sighed and shook his head. He rose again and walked back to the others.   
Sparks raised her head again, then stretched and brushed her head against Megatron's tightly clenched hands. She gave a soft purr. He looked down at her, trying out his usual harsh glare, but as usual it didn't work. Sparks hopped onto his lap and claimed a place there. She stood on her hind legs, front paws pressed against his chest, her eyes staring seriously into his hazel eyes.   
"He is right, you know," she said calmly. "It is difficult, but we all know we can go through this." She gave him a sharp look. "And you are in pain."   
"No," he growled.   
Sparks glanced at the wound, which had healed except for an angry red stripe, which would disappear soon as well. "I'm not talking about bodily pain," she told him. "You mind suffers from this experience. Everyone suffers, in a different way but they suffer."   
He evaded her eyes and kept on staring into the darkness. Sparks did the only thing a cat could do: supply warmth and support. She curled up and started purring softly. After about half an hour a hand brushed over her back and she smiled secretly.

*

Rodi sat beside Lancer, her mind wrapped around his and vice versa. It was a good feeling, something he had missed for the short time they had been separated. His eyes wandered over the small group and he tried to get all of this straightened out. The last time he had met his dimensional twin the Decepticons had still been enemies of the Autobots; now they were allies. And Megatron was back. Firefall was a new factor as well.   
"Lots of changes in their dimension, right?" Lancer asked softly.   
Rodimus nodded thoughtfully. He didn't know what was worse: a secret war against slave rings, drug bosses and the Jabez, or an all-open war against a race of energy beings who had no scruples to obliterated planets or use their own children as body shells, effectively killing them the very second they entered the body. Rodimus had mentioned a few facts to his twin, though Rodi knew it was all just surface stuff. There was a lot going on in this other dimension.   
He looked over to where Sil lay curled around Roddy and smiled. Lancer picked up his thoughts and gave him a mental kick. Rodi chuckled softly, then settled back. They needed to rest. Tomorrow would be another hard day.

* * *

"Too easy," the shadow whispered.   
"Moving to the next level," another one agreed.

* * *

The ground shook like a wild animal trying to dislodge unwanted guests. Megatron stumbled, losing his footing, sliding down the ramp toward the middle of the collapsed hole in the ground. Sparks gave a screech as she shared his fate, her sharps claws unable to find a hold on the slick surface.   
Everything had happened so fast. They had been brought out of sleep by the earthquakes, all of them confused and disoriented as the world seemed to break apart. Megatron tried to lodge his fingers in the ground, but the stone cut into his fingertips and he couldn't get a hold of anything anywhere.   
Someone grabbed his hand and held him. Megatron looked up and into the bright blue eyes of Rodimus Prime. The young Autobot was holding him with his left hand while his right hand was holding onto a bush. The bush didn't look strong enough to support one human weight, let alone two. And from the looks on Rodimus' face, this action was straining him. There was pain in those eyes and also etched into his features. Megatron remembered that he had been injured on the left arm and that he couldn't possibly use it to its full extent.   
The ground beneath him broke. Large chunks heaved upward. Sparks was starting to slide further away and he tried to grab her by her neck, but failed. The movement drew a sharp hiss of pain from Rodimus and Megatron saw the blood stain the overall in red. The wound was bleeding heavily.   
More tremors wracked the ground and something else broke through the surface not far away. He looked over his shoulder and stared. Something like an obelisk, made out of glass and covered in black writing, shot into the sky, glowing in mad colors. The ground shook even more and then a strong wind started to rise out of the obelisk, pulling at the helpless two figures. Sparks gave a cry of panic as she was sucked toward the obelisk. Rodimus' hold slipped and he cried in pain. Megatron realized that there was only one chance as he was sucked toward the obelisk.   
"Let go of me!" he yelled.   
"No way!" Rodimus hissed through pain-clenched teeth.   
"If you don't we'll both die!"   
Rodimus shook his head stubbornly. Megatron closed his eyes for a brief second. He knew the young commander wouldn't let go. He'd rather be pulled down as well. He had to take the decision out of Rodimus' hands.   
Megatron opened his strong grip on the helping hand and Rodimus gave a yell of protest, barely audible over the wind. Megatron found himself smiling faintly as the wind ripped him out of the Rodimus' hands and toward the obelisk. He felt energies all around him, felt them travel along his skin and access something Sparks had called a 'morphogenic field'. The last thing he was consciously aware of before the sudden pain plunged him into darkness was the wide open mouth of something rushing toward him. Then there was nothing.

* * *

"You lost," the shadow said.   
The other shadow nodded. "But I still have my other player."   
"True."   
Another shadow took the dice and rolled them. The stopped, both sides facing upwards showing nothing but blackness.   
"You lose another pawn as well," the first shadow said and turned to the one who had thrown the dice.   
"And get to chose a new one," the loser added.   
"Yes."   
The game went on.

* * *

The screech echoed through the repair hangar like the death cry of an animal, bouncing off the walls in a myriad of echoes impossible to hear all. A faint outline of something vaguely round opened and then a small shape appeared, which was quickly growing larger. Optimus Prime stepped back and watched the shape transform into a cat, which was still growing, changing shape a bit, then finally arriving outside the gateway.   
"Sparks!" Midnight exclaimed.   
The cat stood on shaky legs, blinking at them, then smiled. "Hi, guys....."   
A second shape appeared, this one more human and a split second later Optimus was sure it was a human. The human seemed to go through the same metamorphosis as the cat, his skin turning a silvery white, then into metal, his shape twisting and stretching. The eyes of the human glowed deep red and became a pair of optics, the face and head morphing into a robot, as did the rest of the body. His mouth was open as if he was screaming. His hands and arms were spread out, his back arching, then he was flung out of the gateway, the last changes taking place as he crashed to the ground.   
"Megatron!" Optimus whispered, horror in his optics, his mind trying to cope with what he had just witnessed.   
Megatron's skin still seemed to ripple with energy, but he moved faintly. Sparks was at his side and nudged him, giving Optimus a mournful look. "His morphogenic field wasn't quick enough to re-adjust him to this planet," she told him as the Autobot leader knelt down beside his former enemy.   
Midnight had already called med bay and First Aid had told him he'd be there in a moment.   
"Morphogenic field?" Optimus echoed.   
"I'll explain later." The cat nudged Megatron again and the Decepticon groaned softly, trying to rise.   
Optimus helped him and saw that Megatron's optics were hazy and that he wasn't yet fully conscious. He fell against Optimus, though he tried not to. First Aid was in the room seconds later and took over the badly disoriented Megatron. Optimus turned to Sparks.   
"Where were you? What happened? Where's Rodimus? And what's a morphogenic field?"   
Sparks smiled at him. "Thank you for the warm welcome," she replied with a twinkle in her eyes. "As for your questions: in a jungle on some weird planet; I have no idea; he's still there, as are Sil, another Rodimus and some girl called Lancer; and you wouldn't understand morphogenic fields."   
Optimus gave her an exasperated look, then some of the words registered. "Another Rodimus and Lancer? Oh, no! Not another dimension jump!"   
Sparks shook her head. "Wonder why Lancer and Rodi said the same," she muttered with a grin. Optimus gave her a pointed look and the cat sighed. "Could we discuss this somewhere else? Somewhere quiet and not the middle of a hangar?"   
The Autobot leader nodded and gestured her to follow him. Sparks did so and the two disappeared out of the hangar.

* * *

Rodimus felt devastated. His mind replayed the last few minutes over and over again and it was like a bad dream. Someone touched his arm and he looked up, his glazed eyes coming to rest on Silhouette. She looked compassionately at him as she sat down, holding his hand.   
"They are dead," he whispered after some time.   
"We don't know that," she answered softly, her fingers curling around his.   
"Sil, they were vaporized by that stone! You saw it as well!"   
She nodded. "I saw it, but I have no idea if they were killed or whatever. This world doesn't work like ours."   
He didn't reply and Sil gently rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb in a gesture of sympathy. She knew Rodimus was blaming himself, telling himself over and over again that this could have been prevented, that he could have saved them. Sil knew he couldn't have. It was pure luck he was still alive, but she knew her partner well enough to see that he would have given his own life to save the others. She looked up and met Lancer's eyes. The mutant was watching them, her own face expressing shared pain over the loss and maybe more. Firefall and the other Rodimus were nowhere to be seen.   
Rodimus suddenly straightened and his blue eyes took on a cold note. "If this is a game, they just made a gross mistake," he whispered, pulling away from Sil.   
She frowned at the change. Somehow she thought she could feel the anger radiate off him like a living being.   
Lancer straightened. "It's a game," she said. "It's quite clearly a game and with each victory we have, they start to change levels."   
"We didn't win this time!" Rodimus growled.   
"Oh, but we did," Firefall said and stepped out of the shadows of a building, followed by Rodi.   
"We lost Megatron and Sparks!" Rodimus said forcefully. "I wouldn't call that winning!"   
Firefall sat down on a boulder and smiled at him. "Well, we went on. This game has easy rules. Apparently there are the controllers, who try and get us through different levels. Our success insures our survival in this game."   
Rodimus winced and glared at her.   
"I'm not saying that Megatron and Sparks are dead," Firefall added calmly. "We are pawns and we are moved from one level to the next. They tested us all. They sent predators against us, as well as put obstacles into our way. We mastered these problems and met. Now it looks we are being played off against each other to see who will fail. The rest will go on."   
"And I failed," Rodimus muttered, staring at the ground.   
"No, you didn't!" Sil said sharply. "You didn't fail!"   
He shook his head. "They died....."   
"We don't know that!" Silhouette told him forcefully. "We have to go on and win! You can't just give up now!"   
"How long will this go on?" Rodimus demanded angrily. "And why?"   
Firefall shrugged. "I have no idea."   
"I won't continue," the Autobot commander snarled.   
Lancer smiled nastily. "And how do you want decide whether continuing is playing or staying here is? Whatever we do, we are controlled." Her eyes glowed silverish white. "I hate it as much as everyone," she continued with a soft growl in her voice, "but as long as we play, we can see where this leads us. As long as we live we can fight. There has to be a finish line."   
Rodimus glared at her. "I won't continue!" he repeated. "This has cost two lives already!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest, jaw set, icy blue eyes challenging her to try and stop him.   
She stared at him, feeling her demon rising. Her nerves were already strung tightly and the latest events had done nothing to help calm her down. She had felt as helpless as the next person when Megatron had let go and plunged into the obelisk, vanishing into the glowing surface.   
"We don't know what is playing and what isn't!" she hissed back, rising to the challenge because it was so much easier.   
Rodimus' eyes flashed as well and Lancer thought she saw a reflection of her own demon inside of him. She was suddenly reminded that there was a weak link between them, which transmitted her fury into him. She tried to suppress her rising temper, which was hard work. She felt her fangs grow, her talons unsheathe. Rodimus' blue eyes were now as bright as hers and for a wild second she expected him to fang out as well.   
Lancer closed her eyes and with an act of immense will power she suppressed the anger, the fury, the helplessness. Someone touched her arm and she discovered it was Rodi. He gave her a worried look, but said nothing.   
"And how many players are there?" Firefall suddenly mused out aloud.   
Everyone looked thoughtful, though Rodimus and Lancer looked angry and thoughtful. They found no answer to the question. There could be two to seven players; five now since Megatron and Sparks had disappeared.   
"Whatever is happening here," Sil finally said, "we should get some rest, eat something as well, because I believe tomorrow we'll have more troubles on our hands."   
Lancer nodded, hands unclenching, forcefully calming down completely. Rodi took her hand and smiled slightly at her. Lancer she shot him an indecipherable look, then followed him over to the part of their camp they had claimed as their own. Firefall exhaled a bit and smiled at Rodimus.   
"You get some rest, kid. Both of you."   
Rodimus shook his head. "I can't sleep now."   
Sil pulled him up and over to their own place at the fire. "C'mon," she said softly. "Just lay down and close your eyes. Your body will do the rest."   
He followed her without vocal protest, but he wasn't very enthusiastic about sleeping. Still, he lay down on the ground and felt Sil get down beside him, her arms around him, as if she tried to protect him. Her warm body against his felt good and for the first time he sensed the horrible memories fade a bit, replaced by the desperation not to be alone. Sil snuggled against him and his own body reacted accordingly.   
"Sleep," she said, her breath brushing along his ear, disturbing his hair.   
Rodimus closed his eyes and drifted off.

* * *

Like a thunderstorm the ancient entity broke into the small room, scattering everything that wasn't nailed down. The only three occupants in the room moved away from the vibrating game table, their eyes growing wide.   
\-- Set them free! --   
Ralyk's voice thundered through the gambling room and the three shadows shifted nervously.   
"But the game is not yet finished...." one protested. It held a small pawn shaped like a dragon in one shadowy hand, the other one just reaching out for one of the pawns on the game table.   
Ralyk's presence in the room became oppressing, as if the vast entity was trying to squeeze itself into the much too small gambling space.   
\-- You abducted the wrong pawns -- it hissed.   
Ralyk seldom raised its voice. Since it had come out of its semi-aware state and started to play in the cosmic game of life and death, war and peace it had never felt so much raw anger, so much fury at any single being. Ralyk was old and its temper was hard to rouse so much that it got truly angry. It knew annoyance and exasperation, but most of the time it was a pool of calm and quiet. But the abduction by the Gamblers had triggered something it had never felt like this before. They had abducted its children, the chosen ones, its own pawns for a much larger game! A game that was not played for amusement or to pass time.   
"It's only a game!" another shadow whined.   
Ralyk made its power known to them, though they knew what Ralyk was. Few rarely recognized it so completely because it was simply too vast. But the Gamblers knew what they were facing: an old, powerful, rather angry entity. A Protector.   
\-- Return them! -- it thundered and the volume of its voice sent tremors through the room. A wall exploded out of the room and opened the view into nothingness.   
"We will!" one shadow screamed in panic, shaking badly.   
\-- Now! --   
The room turned several shades darker, as if Ralyk's anger was a physical force.   
One shadow pointed a trembling hand at the pawns and suddenly they disappeared.   
\-- And the one you are holding -- Ralyk rumbled.   
The shadow nervously set the dragon pawn down and it disappeared as well. With the disappearance the oppressing force moved away as well.   
\-- Thank you -- Ralyk said pleasantly and moved away again.   
The three Gamblers seemed to sag with relief and looked at each other. That had been close.

* * *

Twilight blinked in confusion, shaking his head. Jaimaa moved inside of him and he felt her confusion as well.   
"What was that?" he asked.   
Jaimaa stretched out and then pulled back again. :: Gambler :: she whispered and anger rose inside of her.   
"Huh?"   
:: The most despised race in the universe, my friend :: the Tji sighed. :: A race you wouldn't want to meet ::

* * *

But the game had just reached a new level before Ralyk had intervened. Twilight had been saved from becoming a new player and Firefall had not been removed, but the new threat had not been removed quickly enough either. The attacker struck with blinding speed and not even Lancer was fast enough to save him.   
Rodimus screamed in pain.

*

Ralyk hissed as it felt the same pain.   
\-- Liars! -- it roared and lashed out.   
Its mass hit the gambling room and severed every connection there was, plunging the Gamblers into chaotic darkness. The room shook under the onslaught and the gambling table exploded, showering everyone with shards of debris.   
The second table, which had come into life after the first game had been ended so prematurely, shook as well and Ralyk destroyed it as well, sending the pawns scattering into the room and then along their various timelines and streams back to their origin.   
When the brief attack was over, the gambling room lay in ruins, every connection to worlds with possible pawns destroyed. The first Gambler picked himself up on shaky legs and stared in horror at the destruction around him. It would take decades to reestablish connections, to get into a new game! All this because they had chosen wrong...... The Gambler sighed deeply.

*

"Well, that was weird!"   
Rodimus Convoy rubbed his head, trying to get rid of the incredible sensation that had gripped him just seconds ago. It had been as if he was flung along a kind of tunnel, arriving at his destination and then flung back again. He had been peripherally aware of something vastly powerful and ancient intervening into his flight trajectory, catapulting him back.   
"Yeah, weird," he muttered.   
"What was it?" Matt Paxion asked.   
"Wish I knew," Convoy mumbled, still reeling from the intervening touch of the other entity. He knew that it had been outside help and part of him, the Matrix part, reacted to the touch with feelings he had never felt before. Very, very strange.   
"How about we find out?" Matt suggested and grinned evily. "Nothing much to do otherwise, eh? Everything's too quiet anyway and I could use some action."   
Convoy mirrored the smile.

*

In another dimension with yet another history, Optimus Primal blinked and tried to get his circuits straightened out. Whatever had happened just now, he couldn't explain it. From the look on Rattrap's face he was as baffled as the Maximal leader.   
"Oooo-eeee," he muttered. "What was that?"   
Optimus shrugged. He had no answer for it either. Maybe it had been a result of the energon storm, maybe it had been a glitch, though the same glitch in both their circuitry was highly unlikely and unheard of.   
"Let's get back to the others," he decided. "Maybe the Axalon's scanners show something in this area."   
Rattrap nodded, but he looked unconvinced as to whether there would be something on the scanners.

* * *

There was no warning, so tingling feeling to give her a chance to slam up shields. There was only pain from one second to the next.   
Shanygn gave a piercing scream of agonizing pain and collapsed, her mind shutting down immediately, unable to handle the incredible onslaught of two minds suffering and projecting onto her. With a whimper she lost consciousness.

* * *

Rodi was surrounded by suffocating blackness.  There wasn’t a single point of light and he wasn’t so sure if he was coming or going. He thought he was walking somewhere, but he could also be standing rooted to the spot.  His sense of direction was gone, his eyes, though wide open, were of no use, and his feet were definitely not on solid ground.  He gasped for air that wasn’t there, feeling the blackness close around him, bringing an inhuman coldness.   
He had the sudden feeling of falling down and screamed in surprise.  His hands flailed out for something solid to hold on, all the time thinking he was rushing down to his certain death on very solid ground. Then light washed over him, blinding him and he closed his eyes with a groan.

 _A bright, white room was all around him._   
_Pain._   
_Desperation._   
_Agony._   
_Acid_   
_Screams_   
_Anger._   
_Someone seemed to be close by._   
_More pain._   
_Rage._   
_Cold, clinical eyes regarded him, took him apart as much by their stare as also through hands that were not their own._   
_More screams._   
_Torture._   
_Fury._   
_Nightmares._   
_His mind seemed to explode._

When he opened his eyes again to try and make out his surroundings a wave of dizziness washed over him and the world tilted sideways.  Instinctively, Rodimus stretched out his hand, searching for support and coming down hard against a solid, metal surface.  His knees were like jelly and his head was spinning.  When the feeling of dizziness finally diminished to a bearable level he blinked and tried a second time to get his bearings.   
He looked around and then up, right into surprised optics. The green visor belonged to a incredibly black body and the robot held him in his hands, keeping him from falling.   
"Hi," Rodimus said weakly. "I wish I could say nice to meet you again..... Uhm, would you mind letting go of me?"   
Midnight opened his hand to give him a chance to stand on his own. Rodimus looked around and discovered several more people close by.   
"Lancer!" he breathed as he discovered the motionless form of his life-partner, only now realizing his mind was feeling a bit empty through her unconscious state.   
"We're getting her into med bay," Kyle Scott decided as he straightened from her and then turned to Rodimus. "And you as well, no objections!"   
Rodi nodded, calling his life partner gently through their mind link. He got back echoes, which was better than nothing at all, and accompanied the transport to med bay. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another transport, this one equipped with life-support systems and he felt cold all of a sudden. He remembered what the last thing he had seen before his new 'abduction' had been: his dimensional twin getting speared.

*

Med bay was a bustle of activity that quieted down after some time. Rodi sat on a chair, keeping out of the way, half his mind concentrating on Lancer, who had slipped from unconsciousness into sleep, the other half watching what was happening. He saw Optimus Prime stride into the room and talk to First Aid, then glance at him and finally walk over to one of the treatment rooms. Rodimus knew what he saw there: his second-in-command, hooked up to life support and in the worst state he had ever been in. At least as a human. Rodi had recollected all his memories. He knew exactly what had happened. Something monstrous had attacked them, going for Firefall. The woman had jumped out of the way and while everyone had tried to distract it, it had gone after Rodimus. It had hit the young commander badly and several times. Rodi remembered Sil's scream of rage, her beginning transformation into a raptor, then the world had turned white.   
He shuddered.   
Rodimus was solely depending on life support right now. One lung had been pierced, ribs cracked. His left arm was a broken mess and he had lost enough blood to feed a family of vampires. The only thing that spoke for him was the quick help and Shanygn. The young Interface had not left her partner's side for a second and Rodimus had to smile at that. She wouldn't let him die if she could help it. But Shanygn was suffering as well, he knew, at least the echoes of what had happened. Kayla had told him that she had collapsed in shock as the abducted had been returned and Rodi knew why. He and Shanygn were connected by a faint mind link, which usually never showed except when either of them was tired and let his shields waver. When both Rodimus Primes had been returned to this dimension, both had had their shields down, both assaulting the young woman with images of agony and pain. She had come around quite quickly and had immediately started to help, but Rodi knew she was suffering.   
Suddenly he felt Lancer stir. He rose from his chair and walked over to where she was propped up on a human-sized bed. She had been asleep for most of the night now and throughout the operation Rodimus had gone through. Kayla had checked in now and then, nodding encouragingly at Rodi and then leaving again. She was currently present as well.

Lancer woke to the feeling of another presence, a well-known presence, in her mind. She opened her eyes, her body more or less relaxed, since Rodi didn't project danger. The first thing she saw was a humanoid, someone she knew.   
"Hi," Kayla said with a smile, showing her canines.   
"Hello," Lancer answered slowly. She looked around and discovered that she was in a human-sized medical ward. There was no one else present, but she felt Rodi's reassurance in her mind and that he would be with her in a moment. And through the link she also felt he was worried -- about someone else.   
"I'm just here to help you in case you were disoriented or something," Kayla told her with some amusement.   
Lancer remembered their first meeting and grimaced slightly. Kayla chuckled.   
"Can I get up?" the young mutant asked and was already sitting up.   
"Nothing against it," Kayla answered with a shrug. "You just had a shock from getting back here and we got you a nice, separate room. You slipped into an exhausted sleep."   
Lancer nodded and dressed. She wondered why they had been transported into this dimension and not into their own. She discovered Rodi entering and smiled at him, feeling his mind brush against hers.   
"How did we get here?" she asked aloud.   
He smiled slightly but his eyes were full of worry. "Long story and I still haven't heard it all yet."   
Kayla left them alone and walked over to another medical ward.   
"What's wrong?" Lancer asked.   
"Roddy, my twin, is in a bad shape. You remember anything from before we arrived here?"   
Lancer frowned and some of the memories returned. "He got hurt...." she said slowly.   
"Quite badly. He didn't transform back into a robot upon arrival and in his human condition he was unable to take what had happened to him." Rodimus gave her a brief summary of the injuries.   
 Lancer looked grim. "I see." Her eyes wandered through med bay. "How's Shanygn?"   
"She's with him. We exchanged a few words, but she is more or less with him, holding him." Rodi sighed deeply. "Sil is still human as well and she spent half the night in med bay with him."   
Lancer felt silent anger against those who had done this to them rise inside her, but she squelched it with force. If she fanged now, without a real target to hit, it would result in a disaster.   
The two left the room and walked into the main area of med bay. They discovered Optimus standing close by. As the Autobot leader saw them, he nodded a greeting. Lancer thought he looked kind of gray with worry. Rodimus guided her out of the large room and into the corridor.   
"Why didn't he change back?" she asked quietly, not inquiring about where they were going.   
"Sparks mumbled something about morphogenic field again and I believe it has something to do with energy, previous experiences at being human and stuff like this. Highly confusing coming out of a cat."   
Lancer had to smile despite the serious situation, serious for this dimension's Rodimus.   
"I believe that. I really do."   
"Hi," a female voice suddenly said.   
Lancer recognized the dark-haired woman right away because Melissa Witwicky hadn't really changed that much.   
"I heard you are paying us a visit," she continued.   
"Rather unwilling," Lancer replied. "I'd rather be in my own dimension."   
Mel nodded. "I understand. But I guess Ralyk saw it safest to get you all here in one piece instead of trying to split doorway routes in mid-transfer."   
Rodi's eyebrows climbed a bit. "You know quite a lot about doorways."   
Mel shrugged. "Comes from hanging around with oversized horses and a Bat."   
Lancer grinned a bit.   
"And how do we get back?" Rodimus asked.   
Mel frowned. "Raven and Nightmare are currently trying to locate a weak spot between our dimensions. The doorway we used the last time is closed now, though the fabric is still weak where it opened at the time. Nightmare said he doesn't want to risk piercing through that weak spot in case it can't close by itself again. We don't want to inflict more damage than already has been through Braintrust's actions."   
Lancer nodded. "But we can get back?" she asked.   
Melissa nodded with conviction. "You can. We just have to find the right train for you to board." She smiled.   
Rodi and Lancer understood the metaphor and they also knew that safety was the first priority.   
Suddenly there was a loud screech, something close to a roar and two small robots racing along the corridor. One was a winged cat, the other looked like a copy of Ravage, though missing a few details. The winged one was flying haphazardly, chasing the Ravage copy. The winged cat brushed too close by a wall and landed with a thump. The other one tackled it and they fought briefly.   
"Guys!" Mel yelled and both stopped. She shook her head. "Why don't you play somewhere you don't bump into people?" She frowned at the winged cat. "And I thought you had grown up!"   
The Ravage copy grinned. "Maybe, maybe not."   
Mel rolled her eyes and gestured at the two visitors to follow her.   
"Who are they?" Rodi asked.   
"The winged one is Xanadu, the other one is Maverick. They are Sparks and Ravage's kids."   
Rodi's mouth dropped open and Mel chuckled.   
"I see I better bring you up to date in this dimension while you're here."

*

Optimus looked at the fragile form in the small bed; small compared to Cybertronian-sized beds. Rodimus was as pale as the sheet he lay on, his body frail and the skin almost translucent. The machines he was connected to made no sounds. Heavy bandages covered his mistreated body and his left arm was in a cast. Kyle had commented on the healing rate, which was about twice as fast as that of a normal human, and added to that came the healing powers of modern technologies. Nicholas had been injured very badly not a long time ago and he had survived, and he had been able to leave sickbay after a week. Kyle had worked for hours to apply the help Rodimus needed and the medic was convinced he would wake up soon.   
But still the fact remained that Rodimus had nearly died when he had returned. Optimus couldn't get the picture out of his mind. Rodimus in a pool of his own blood, a deep and ugly wound in his chest, his body mangled.   
We can't lose you, Rodimus, he whispered silently. Not now. Not ever.   
Something brushed by his mind and he flinched.   
\-- He will live -- Ralyk reassured him.   
\-- I won't let him die --   
And neither would Shanygn. She had kept bedside vigil throughout the first critical hours and she was still here, eyes closed, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. There was no telling whether she was asleep or in some kind of trance. Whatever she had done, and whatever Ralyk might have done, it had helped to insure Rodimus' survival.   
Optimus turned away, sighing deeply. He became aware of the alien woman at his feet. Silhouette's eyes were large and her face too pale as well.   
"He will live," he told her.   
"I know he will," she whispered.   
Optimus smiled faintly, feeling a bit awkward. He wasn't good at the consoling stuff. Sil seemed to read his mind and smiled.   
"I'm all right," she said. "You better go back and deal with the everyday problem or crisis. Kyle said Roddy will get out of this healing sleep soon."   
Optimus nodded, knowing she was right. Still, he couldn't stop thinking about he possible loss he had skidded around with a lot of luck.

* * *

Sphere had thought long and hard about this step and she knew it might prove to be the wrong decision, but she had to make it. Ralyk had given her a short explanation and a good impression of what had happened. This more than anything told her that some of the those abducted had suffered more than the others. Rodimus and Silhouette were used to being human, more or less used at least. Firefall had somehow taken it all in a stride -- at least on the outside though she had not been in the meeting and had disappeared toward Earth -- and Sparks wasn't shaken by it either. That left Megatron, who had been suspiciously absent lately and when he showed his face it was one of constant glowering. Ralyk had told her he had been through a lot and that the morphing back into a robot had been extremely painful. He would always remember it and it would haunt him.   
Sparks had tried to help, Sphere knew. She had talked to the cat, had heard her story and her attempts to get Megatron back from his brooding. Well, since he hadn't reacted to any teasing or sympathy, Sphere would try a different approach.   
The office was barely lit, but Megatron couldn't be missed. His eyes gave him away.   
"What do you want?" he snarled.   
Sphere closed the door behind him and walked up to the office desk. "Talk."   
"If Sparks set this up, tell her I don't need any help!" he snapped.   
Sphere moved around the desk. "She didn't set this up. I came here because I know exactly what happened. Ralyk told me."   
"So?"   
She leaned forward, meeting his eyes. "So stop being childish and sulking and grow up! Rodimus went through the same twice! He was forced to be human and he survived it! You always proclaimed how strong you Decepticons are and now you are behaving like a newly born! Show some of that stubborn pride!"   
Megatron erupted out of the chair and hissed angrily. "Watch your mouth!" he snarled.   
"Because what if I don't? You will show some old backbone again? Strength? You would shoot me right here and now? Or will you face it that there are things you can't control?" Sphere's green optics flared.   
And Megatron's flared as well. "You have no idea what you're talking about!"   
"Oh, yeah? I was human once and reborn in this metal body!" She gestured at herself. "Do you think your way of transforming from metal to flesh is bad? Try it the other way around!"   
Megatron hissed something and turned away. Sphere grabbed his arm. The Decepticon leader whirled around and slammed her against the wall.   
"Don't touch me!"   
Sphere felt the metal beneath her finger. It was a strange feeling, not pure metal.... Realization hit her. The synthoid material! It was still too much on the surface, denying Megatron the complete transformation back into his old self.   
His face hovered above her, his optics deep, dark red pools of enraged fire. He was desperate, she knew, and trying not to show it -- because he was Megatron, Decepticon leader. _Fool_ , she thought and strengthened her grip around his arm.   
"But I do," she answered calmly. "As long as you need to realize that this isn't something evil or sick. It's you. Your body. You have to face it."   
Their relationship had had a very rocky start and it had bounced from animosity to tolerance and then to ....to what? There had been a period of going out of each other's way, but Sphere had found she was attracted to him as well, though on a basis she didn't understand. If Starscream heard of this he'd burst a circuit, she knew, but right now she didn't care. She had been worried to death about Megatron when he had disappeared and she had been even more worried when she had heard about the return and the metamorphosis.   
Megatron only stared silently at her. He didn't like it and he never would.

* * *

Rodimus thought he was swimming through a grey fog towards sound and light. He blinked, somehow surprised he had eyes to see. His hand closed around a blanket and the voice he had heard constantly in his mind, the voice who had told him to stay and not leave, was clearer now. He blinked again. The light became clearer as well, his vision focusing. The first he saw was a oval something. It turned out to be a face. Two dark blue pools of worry regarded him.   
"Shanygn?"   
He was surprised that his voice was so hoarse. And why was he looking up at Shanygn when he should be so much larger than her.   
Memories flooded him and he sighed softly.   
He was human.   
"Hi, Roddy," Shanygn answered. her voice tired.   
Now that that he took a closer look he saw the dark circles under her eyes, the pale and haunted expression. Rodimus reached out for her mind and encountered a tight knot of worry and hours of fear, desperation and hope.   
[That close, hm?] he asked, faintly surprised by it himself.   
Shanygn closed her eyes for a brief second. [Yes] she answered. [Kyle said you lost a lot of blood and I felt you slipping away......]   
Rodimus touched her mind, making his presence know to her. [Thanks for keeping me back]   
She smiled a bit. [It was a group effort, Roddy. No one alone could have saved you]   
He nodded. He realized that, but he also knew that Shanygn had done a great deal to keep him alive in his own mind.   
[And your structure is amazing, to say the least] Shanygn added. [Kyle said you react incredibly fast to healing methods used to speed up cell regeneration]   
Rodimus remembered Megatron's 'healing powers' and wondered what Kyle's face would have been had he seen it. Apparently these transformed bodies were in many regards superior to human bodies, but they were still human.   
[When can I get out of here?] he asked plaintively.   
Shanygn grinned again, her tired eyes sparkling with amusement all of a sudden. [You just woke out of a healing sleep, Rodimus. And you are still weak and in need of recuperation. The wounds have healed faster than expected and even broken bones are no problem. But Kyle won't let you out before he knows you won't just keel over outside]   
Rodimus sighed deeply. He hated med bays, especially as a human.   
Shanygn laughed quietly in his mind and he felt her presence as a comforting blanket around his mind. He drifted off into sleep again.

* * *

Lancer felt herself relax, more than she had ever relaxed in the last years. Shanygn was an easy person to be around with and she knew Lancer as well as Lancer would let someone know her, maybe even better.   
They were in this dimension for a week now and even though life here wasn't paradise either, Lancer felt like on a vacation compared to home. But she had also formed a clear picture of what was going on here right now. A lot had changed since their last visit, she had realized. In this week she had met Cybertronians she had never known before and some of them intrigued her immensely and she wondered if certain persons were also hiding on the Cybertron she knew, hidden beneath the planet's surface or on other worlds.   
Roddy was healing nicely and Shanygn had told her that Kyle was surprised by the rate he regenerated tissue. Especially since he hadn't been able to do that on the game planet. He still had trouble with his left arm because broken bones mended slower than tissue, but the cast had been taken off without any ill side-effects and the nasty wound inflicted by the spear had nearly closed. Rodimus was allowed to do light work and he had not hesitated for a second to go after his duties as second-in-command, though Optimus had told him to recuperate fully -- which also meant getting back into his own body.   
This was another factor they were puzzling about. The morphogenic field Sparks had mentioned apparently kept him in this form and following Sparks' theory, the body had to be healed first for the field to reduce to a level where the planet's own energy pattern could influence the structure.   
Right now Lancer and Shanygn sat outside the South Port complex, Lancer watching the faraway space port. Somehow it seemed peaceful here, but it wasn't. Not really. There was an underlying tension that permeated everything.   
Shanygn nodded as she remarked on it, pulling her knees to her chest. "Charr fell not too long ago and we are still trying to cope with the losses. It was pure luck that most of the Decepticons on Charr were able to flee, including Megatron. He was in a devastating condition when he arrived, as were two thirds of the others and the ship. Everyone is trying to hurry and get up defenses, but we're afraid that the Tji might hit another target soon. Nebulos, Alean, Skritakaar .... Earth. Those are the main worries. And then there are those dozens of worlds the Autobots set foot on. Everyone's in danger."   
Lancer nodded, wondering if a war in secret wasn't better than such an all-out fighting.   
"How are the children?" Shanygn suddenly asked.   
"Fine. We have trouble keeping them out of trouble," the young mother said with a smile. "Edana once asked where you went. I told her and she said one day she wants to visit."   
Shanygn grinned. Suddenly her eyes widened a bit, then she tensed and finally relaxed again. It had happened within five seconds, but Lancer had seen it.   
"Something wrong?" she asked.   
Shanygn chuckled. "No, I think I'd say everything has just turned out all right..... well, nearly."   
Lancer raised a questioning eyebrow.   
"I think Silhouette and Roddy ....errr... are getting experimental," Shan laughed. "Though I think he should take it easy in his ....condition."   
That cracked Lancer up as well and the two women nearly fell over laughing. Lancer gasped for air.   
"Did you tell them to use precautions?"   
Shanygn broke into more laughter and shook her head, sliding off the bench. "I'd like to see his face if I had! Or shown it to him!"   
Lancer giggled hysterically at the thought. Shanygn looked up through tear-filled eyes. She was laughing so hard she had started to cry. The very idea ......   
"Hey, is this private or can anyone join in?"   
Shanygn caught sight of Rodi and it was enough to give her another laugh attack. Lancer joined in, sliding off the bench as well.   
Rodi looked at the two women, tried to tap into Lancer's mind, and was faced with several things which made no sense, but which he also didn't want to ponder more than necessary. He decided to do the only thing he could do: retreat.   
The two women looked after the retreating Autobot, looked at each other and giggled again.   
"Have you ever handed him one?" Shanygn asked and Lancer immediately understood what she meant.   
"No," she managed, gasping for air. "He wouldn't know what to do with it!"   
They giggled hysterically.   
"If he could, he'd have a dozen children," Lancer added. "That's why I did the precaution for him."   
Shanygn chuckled. "Two are enough, eh?"   
"Quite! But he'd have more even if Edana and Alex were the worst brats. I think he loves the thought of kids. And I couldn't discourage him by letting him in on the birth pains and all." Lancer chuckled.   
"You should have seen how Roddy reacted to that!" Shanygn gasped. "He was shocked! I think he was afraid he'd have to go through this with me one day!"   
Lancer grinned evily, but Shanygn waved her off.   
"No danger there," she added. "Can't get pregnant."   
Lancer sobered a bit. "Oh."   
Shanygn's eyes darkened briefly, then she chased the shadows away. "Makes life a bit easier and he can stop thinking about the what-if situations...." She grinned. "Though I wonder if Sil could get pregnant now...."   
Lancer giggled at the thought and both finally cracked up completely.

* * *

Rodimus wasn't happy and it wasn't only this human body that gave him bouts of aggressive fury. It was the whole situation. They had been returned from the hell hole planet and now he seemed to be stuck in this human form. Since this wasn't a synthoid blob, shaped by his consciousness, there was no way Perceptor's machine could return him into his robot body. Firefall had morphed back into her old self, as had Sparks and Megatron. His dimensional twin had confirmed that if he wanted to, he would be able to morph into a robot again, but Rodimus was stuck. As was Silhouette.   
Silhouette took it all with stoic calm, telling him that since the others had made it back into their own form, so would they -- given time. Sparks had agreed and explained something at a meeting that made Rodimus' head reel.   
Every being was surrounded by a morphogenic field which controlled how they looked. You were borne and the field would come into existence around you, like excess energy from your own body. Since the body radiated a particular energy, an energy specific to your race, the field would keep you into this form or shape. Shape-shifters, those who could change their bodies into other forms, had access to this field around themselves and used it in unique ways. Now something had triggered the morphogenic field around him, transforming him into a human.   
Silhouette had reported that she had arrived as a velociraptor and later changed into a human when she had tried to save Rodi from falling into the void. She couldn't say how she had done it, only that it was possible and that she might be able to become a raptor again, if she knew how to access the field. It had been very easy on the planet and she suspected that this 'game' planet had something to do with it.   
Sparks theory was that since Silhouette had once been human and since Rodimus had been transformed into a human more than once, the morphogenic fields around their bodies needed to readjust to the current situation again. They would turn into robots again.   
Roddy's dimensional twin had been very thoughtful throughout Sparks' explanation and Rodimus wondered if he thought about his ability to become human at will. Roddy still had no idea how he could do it and Lancer and Rodi omitted many facts from their tales. Rodimus knew that he had suffered a lot, that aliens called Jabez had nearly killed him, that they had transformed him into a human, that they were their main problem and worst enemy ever, but still, things were missing.   
Well, whatever, he was not in a good mood. Being human wasn't pleasant and the last time it had taken nine days to get him back into his robot body again. Now .... he had no idea. Spike had invited him to stay with him and Carly on Earth and Shanygn had told him she wouldn't mind if he shared her quarters, but Rodimus had declined. He would use one of the empty quarters. Shanygn had organized some clothes for him and Silhouette and now he was silently sitting on the window sill of his room, watching the world outside. His home. A planet that was currently not his size anymore. Nothing was his size anymore. And with the different size came the old problems again.   
Rodimus had asked his twin how he coped with his people staring at his much smaller, human form as if he had grown another head and Rodi had replied he didn't. They would have to cope with him, not the other way around. He was what he was and they had to accept it, though acceptance seemed to be a problem.   
"Hi, anybody home?"   
Rodimus turned his head and discovered Silhouette. She was wearing a dress Kayla had given her. The dark blue fabric fell to her ankles, a broad belt around her narrow waist. She wore a sleeveless jacket over the dress and it was just as long as the dress itself. It was strange to see her this way -- humanoid, but not human. He thought she was beautiful, in a very alien way, but that had always been the fact. He had never seen her in her own body, before she had been killed. And Optimus had never lost a word about it.   
"Hi. I thought you were with the others...."   
She shook her head. Her heavy hair was bound together in a tight tail and Rodimus thought he remembered Lancer giving Sil a hand with it.   
"Rodi, your twin, is exploring South Port, and Lancer and Shanygn are doing I-don't-want-to-know-what. I thought I'd have a look at how you are doing. You've been very quiet between your temper outbreaks."   
Rodimus grimaced. "Thanks for reminding me."   
Sil sat down beside him and let her feet dangle. "Always a pleasure to help. How are you holding up?"   
"Fine." Well, he did feel better. The ribs gave him no trouble anymore -- and they had been hell only three days ago -- and with a bit of luck he would be able to get rid of the bandage stabilizing his healing broken wrist soon. The deep wound in his chest had been reduced to an itchy scar. "Why do you ask?"   
"Because your injuries were quite serious, Rodimus. We nearly lost you, you know." Her eyes darkened at the thought. "And I remember the last time....."   
Rodimus turned away. "That was different."   
"Only in your dreams, Roddy. It's the same! You are once again trapped in a human body and this time there is nothing anyone can do to help us. It's up to our own bodies. And I don't think it helped that you nearly died in this shell!"   
He slid off the window sill. "Yeah, I know."   
Sil watched him pace up and down a bit, then slipped off as well and stepped into his way. "Stop that, please!"   
And he stopped, right in front of her.   
"Listen, it's not bad to be human, believe me. At least you have some experience with it already, unlike Firefall and Megatron."   
"How are they coping?" he asked, worried about the others.   
Sil smiled secretly. It was so typically Roddy. "Firefall went off somewhere and I believe it is Earth. I have no idea how she feels about this experience. Megatron... he's as charming as ever." Sil held his eyes and touched his face. "And you....."   
Rodimus shivered at her touch, his human body sending him signals he had never felt before.   
"And you," she continued, "need some rest."   
"Yeah, maybe...."He sighed, knowing she was right.   
Sil smiled and pulled him with her to the bedroom.

* * *

Firefall sat outside Metroplex and stared into the distance. Gaelon was deep inside of her, the matrix space filled with her presence, and it was a good feeling. She had returned the moment Firefall had her robot body back and if she could have, she'd have hugged the Veneran. Gaelon had not mentioned anything about this abduction and transformation, and Firefall puzzled whether her friend had really been aware of it or not. But she was also afraid to ask. Too much of the experience still clung to her and only now, that she was back in her robot body, could she feel a difference to the human form. It shocked her.   
Someone landed beside her and she looked up, surprised to see Twilight. The dragon sat down on his haunches and smiled. Firefall's surprise originated mainly from the fact that Twilight was host to a Tji, the enemy of the Venerakkin and the whole Cybertronian race. Jaimaa, the Tji, went out of her way to get as much distance between herself and any Venerakkin as possible. Twilight held a special position here since Jaimaa was a traitor to her own kind and trying to help the Cybertronians in this war. Why come to her, the leader, voluntarily now?   
"Hi," Twilight said, his dark voice gentle.   
"What do you want?" she asked, wishing he'd leave her alone.   
"The question is: what do you need?"   
Firefall looked up, puzzled by the reply. "I need some time on my own," she replied.   
Twilight shook his head. "No, you need answers to your questions."   
"And you know what they are?" she asked sarcastically.   
"In a way, yes." He lay down, crossing his large paws. "You want to know what happened and why it happened."   
"What do you know about it?" Firefall snarled.   
Twilight smiled. "I know nothing about it, but Jaimaa does. And so does Gaelon, but for once the roles are reversed and Gaelon is afraid of what has happened."   
Firefall was quiet for some time. She knew Gaelon had refused to even mention the abduction and it was curious. "And what does Jaimaa know? And why tell me? I thought you saw me as an enemy."   
Twilight smiled gently. "You are my enemy as long as you think you are, Firefall. Jaimaa fears you and so do I, but we are on the same side. You could destroy us and we could destroy you, but that is not the subject here." He looked into the distance. "Those who abducted you are generally known as Gamblers," he said after while and Firefall felt Gaelon inside of her wince away.   
"Who are they?" she asked, intrigued by Gaelon's reaction to the name.   
"They are what the name implies: gamblers. Their past time consists of playing different games, sometimes with others. They abduct different individuals, sometimes from different planets or races or even dimensions to play their games. After the game the ones involved are returned, most of the times without any memory of the game. They are not evil by nature, but since they are notorious gamblers they continue; they never stop." He grinned a bit. "Well, they might take a longer time away from the next game now. Ralyk left quite an impression, I suppose."   
Firefall nodded. She knew that the entity had been responsible for their rescue. "Why turn us into something other than ourselves? Why turn us human?"   
Twilight shrugged his massive shoulders. "They have a strange sense of humor."   
Firefall laughed dryly. "Very strange. Did the Tji ever meet those Gamblers or why does Jaimaa know so much about them?"   
Twilight seemed to listen to something inside himself. "They met," he then slowly, his voice dark. "They gambled once."   
Firefall understood and didn't ask further. Both sat together in mutual silence. Gaelon kept herself curled inside the matrix space. After some time Twilight rose and opened his wings.   
"See you later," he said and launched himself into the air.   
Firefall watched him fly away gracefully, then heard steps.   
"There you are," Kup said. "I was looking all over the place for you, Firefall! What are you doing here?"   
Firefall rose and smiled at him. "Thinking about this and that."   
"Anything I can help with?"   
She shook her head. "No. I already had help, thanks." She pulled herself out of her dark thoughts. "Are you still on duty?"   
Kup shook his head. "Why?"   
Firefall grinned. "Oh, I thought you might want to spend some time together....."   
Kup only coughed.

* * *

Silhouette woke with a terrified scream. She threw her hands up, trying to fend off an unseen attacker. Someone grabbed her wrists, talking softly to her. She tried to jerk away, fear and terror giving her an incredible strength. She hit something soft and heard a startled 'oouff'. Trying to get away from her attacker, Sil tried to scramble out of her bed, only to meet resistance. She fought off the hands again, extracting another pain-filled wheeze from the attacker.   
"Sil!" The sharp voice made her stop and blink. Someone grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. "Sil! It's only a dream. Wake up!"   
"Roddy?" she breathed.   
She blinked and looked at the shadowy form beside her.   
"Lights!" Rodimus said loudly and the lights went on.   
Rodimus knelt beside her on the bed, holding her shoulders, his face lined with worry. He was naked, just like her, his well-muscled body covered by bruises and healing scratches from their experience on the game planet and the reminders of his serious tackle with death. But right now she didn't care about her undressed state. She tried to get back to reality, tried to get he nightmare to leave.   
"Yes, it's me. Everything's okay."   
"I ...." Sil inhaled deeply, relaxing slightly.   
Rodimus let go of her shoulders as the woman slumped against the head of the bed. She was drenched in sweat, her heavy, long hair unruly and her eyes haunted.   
"It's okay," Rodimus repeated softly.   
Sil looked at him with fear. A fear born out of a terrible experience. Rodimus took the blanket of their shared bed and draped it around her shivering body. She leaned against him, seeking support. It had never been that bad.....   
"What happened?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders.   
"It's.... the nightmare....."   
Rodimus held her even tighter. "The same as before?"   
She sighed. "Not the one you mean. Well, not the same. I'm past that problem; I accepted my life as a robot, Roddy. I had help." She lifted her head and smiled at him. "I had you."   
He smiled back, kissing the top of her head. "What happened now?" she asked softly.   
Sil was silent for a long time, then sighed again. "When I was back in my human form, the memories came back as well. All of them. My past, my abduction .... my death....."   
Rodimus closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. They sat together in silence, Rodimus at a loss for words. He had no idea what to do; he had never confronted such a problem.   
"I'm all right again," Sil said after some time, but she didn't move away.   
Rodimus continued rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. "What is it you remember of your past beside your death?" he asked calmly.   
Sil screwed her eyes shut, then sighed deeply. "My name, my home planet, my family and friends."   
He was silent, trying to keep his curiosity in check.   
"My name.... my birth name is Roma Chi'lachn," Sil said after some time, her voice hoarse. "I was born on Kartarkian." He inhaled deeply. "I was a teacher at the Academy of History there..... before .... before I became Silhouette."   
Rodimus nodded slowly, still holding her.   
"I think we should go back to sleep," she whispered, unable to continue.   
He nodded again, though she saw he was looking doubtful. Sil inhaled slowly, her mind still trying to cope with her fear, her returning memories. She shivered once more. Rodimus turned toward her, pulling her closer. She felt the bandages of his body, the places he had been hurt, and her past memories together with the event sof the last few days, the very real possibility to lose the only person she had ever felt so close to, overwhelmed her. She felt tears rise inside of her and suddenly she choked.   
"Oh, gods!" she whispered, her body wrecked by tremors. "I died! Rodimus, I died! I felt it all!" Tears spilled out of her eyes.   
Rodimus hugged her tightly, his head resting on hers as she curled close to him. Sil had always been a strong person, someone who fought two wars: one on the inside, the other one with the outside. She had had nightmares before and she had won over them. Now the transformation had triggered her past to be returned to her, her life and her death. He muttered nonsense words, wishing he had more experience with human emotions. Cybertronians had an emotional spectrum that came close to that of humanoids, but there was a limit and death experiences didn't result in the same emotional turmoil than within other races.   
Silhouette finally quieted down a bit and wiped her  eyes.   
"Feeling better?" he asked, though he thought it sounded wrong to ask.   
"I ...think so. Sorry for spilling all of this over you, Rodimus. I know you felt uncomfortable."   
Rodimus smiled slightly. Sil. That was her. She tried to be strong and support him, but right now it didn't have to be the way. "No," he said softly. "I spilled a lot over you in our time together and it's time I could do something for you. And," he grinned boyishly, "right now I don't feel uncomfortable. Actually, I could get used to this...."   
That drew a chuckle out of her and there was an amused glint in her eyes. "Crazy guy," she whispered gently.   
Rodimus bent down and kissed her softly. "Of course," he said.   
She closed her eyes, feeling his warmth next to her as she drifted into a slumber.   
Rodimus watched her, smiling slightly, then he fell asleep as well.

* * *

The change happened without much of a warning. Silhouette felt a tingle down her spine as she woke the next morning and as she rose out of bed she saw her skin turn gray and blue, as well as metallic. She knew the instant she saw it that she had to get out of the human quarters. She flung open the door just in time. Her body stretched and grew, bending over, growing a tail, a long neck, sharp canines, claws. Then, in another fluid motion, it transformed on its own and she finally looked like her robot self again. Dizziness battled against the urge to get Rodimus out of the quarters. If she had started to change, so could he.   
But Rodimus was already awake when she had finished transforming, and he stumbled into the corridor, staring at the Dinobot.   
"Primus!" he whispered, then winced as if in pain.   
Silhouette watched helplessly as he doubled over with a cry, grabbing his mid-section. Her own transformation had been painless, but she also remembered that Megatron's hadn't been. Rodimus went through the same stages she had, with his skin turning into metal, taking on his usual color scheme and then his body stretched. At least he didn't go through his car transformation first. He groaned softly as the last few ripples ran through him, his oxygen filters wheezing and panting.   
She knelt down beside him, noticing the multiple injuries of his metal skin, aware that her own, barely visible scar was also still present.   
"Roddy?" she asked.   
He looked up, optics bright blue. "I'm fine," he answered, a bit unsteady.   
The corridor was still deserted at the time and there weren't many humans living in these parts either. Silhouette smiled and gave him a quick kiss.   
"What was that for?" he asked.   
"Nothing," she replied. "I think we should go down to med bay and let First Aid or someone check us through."   
Rodimus nodded and climbed to his feet. "I wonder what triggered it," he muttered.   
Sil shrugged. "Don't ask me. Maybe we'll find out one day."   
He smiled at her, his features softening. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."   
She looked surprised. "That coming out of someone who complained nonstop the last time he was turned human."   
Rodimus smiled even more. "Last time I didn't have the company."   
Sil chuckled. "C'mon before I do something you'll regret later!"   
Rodimus laughed and followed her down the corridor. "Which would be?" he asked curiously.   
Silhouette didn't answer and he chased her down to sickbay.

* * *

Lancer had never met Ralyk and she didn't really know what this entity was, but as she stood inside the doorway chamber she thought she felt it. It was vast. It was immense. It was ancient and powerful. And incredibly gentle. Sphere stood beside the two humans and smiled down at Lancer as the mutant felt Ralyk all around her. She hadn't felt it the last time she had been here, but now..... Lancer's ability to sense life force had never failed her before and still this was the first time she felt Ralyk's life force. It was incredible!   
"I locked onto the coordinates," Sphere told them. "You should have no trouble getting back."   
Lancer nodded and looked at those who had come to say good-bye -- once more. Rodimus and Sil were both back in their old bodies and Lancer smiled secretly at the conversation she had had with Shanygn. The female Interface stood beside her partner and winked at Lancer, who returned the wink.   
Rodimus looked as good as new, the scars removed by First Aid, the robot shell looking like it had been before the events. But there would always be the memories.....   
The doorway vibrated and opened, the column of light exploding into life. Nightmare nodded at them.   
"It's fixed."   
"Well, I guess it's time to say good-bye once more," Rodi grinned.   
"Hopefully we'll meet under normal circumstances one day," Sil replied with a smile.   
"One can always hope," he told her seriously.   
"Thanks for everything," the Dinobot said softly and Rodimus simply nodded.   
Lancer embraced Shanygn briefly, then whispered something into her ear. Shanygn bit her lip and her eyes danced with laughter. Then the two visitors disappeared into the doorway.   
"What was that about?" Rodimus asked and looked down at Shanygn.   
"Uhm, well, nothing," she then said quickly and left the chamber.   
Rodimus felt her mind ringing with laughter and followed her disappearing form with a puzzled frown.   
"Do you know what this means?" he asked Sil.   
"Not a clue," she answered. They left the chamber as well. "But I know that I still have to get my prize."   
"Prize for what?" he asked innocently.   
They stepped into the elevator to the surface. "Beating you to sickbay," she breathed and wrapped her arms around his neck.   
Rodimus smiled. "Uh-huh..... I let you win...."   
She chuckled. "You didn't, hot head. I'm too fast for you."   
"Oh, yeah?"   
The elevator stopped and Sil quickly detached herself and jumped out, transforming into her raptor mode. "Yeah!" she called and ran off.   
Rodimus felt his energon level rise as he transformed, chasing after her.

* * *

Optimus was caught by surprise as the column of light popped up out of nowhere and right in the middle of his office. Two figures stepped out and he blinked as he recognized Lancer and Rodimus.   
"What in Primus' name.....?!"   
Rodimus grinned. "We're back!" he announced cheerfully.   
Optimus frowned. "I can see that. Where the hell have you been?"   
Rodimus shrugged. "Long story."   
"How about you tell me?" Optimus asked pointedly.   
His partner grinned. "How about you give us a break first and let us readjust?"   
Optimus sighed and shook his head. Rodimus nodded at Lancer to leave the office.   
"Roddy?"   
He turned.   
"Nice to have you back in one piece," Optimus smiled.   
"Nice to be back, to be completely honest. And, before I forget to mention it later, greetings from you dimensional twin." With that he quickly closed the door.   
Optimus stared after him. "Not another dimension jump!" he then groaned.

* * *

Ralyk was pleased and it radiated this pleasure through the whole structure of Vector Sigma and its mobile host body. Sphere touched her chest and smiled at the feeling inside of her. All children were back home and the visitors had been returned as well. Ralyk had quieted down and was once again completely inside Cybertron. The Gamblers wouldn't strike again, at least not any of the Cybertronian races. They knew now that they had a Protector.

*

.... and the Gamblers had a vastly different problem anyway. Games were the last thing on their minds as they scattered and tried to get to safety.   
"Okay, who wants some?!" Matt called cheerfully, waving his gun.


End file.
